Ghazi Algosaibi, Saudi Ambassador to London said that he "would be very glad to modify" his view of Palestinian freedom fighters, if the Board of Deputies of British Jews "has the moral courage to refer former Israeli prime ministers, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir and the present one, Ariel Sharon, as terrorists and the Israeli actions in Jenin as war crimes.

"If and when the Board of Deputies has the moral courage to refer to these notorious terrorists as terrorists, and the actions in Jenin of the Israeli government as war crimes, I would be very glad to modify my view of Palestinian freedom fighters," said Algosaibi in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News, in response to a letter he had received from the Board of Deputies about his poem Martyrs published in the London-based Al Hayat Arabic daily recently.

"Menachem Begin was responsible for the cold-blooded murder of about 200 innocent Palestinians, mostly women and children in Deir Yassin. Yitzhak Shamir was a notorious murderer of innocents, and would have been hanged if the British Mandate Government caught him," the statement read.

"Ariel Sharon is guilty of genocide. He was found to have 'personal responsibility' by the Kahan Commission for murder of 2,000 innocent Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila," the statement added, referring to the Israeli massacre in the two Palestinian refugee camps during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The statement held Sharon "responsible for the murder" of a similar number of Palestinian civilians in occupied Palestinian lands. "His destruction of Jenin would make Attila the Hun proud," said the statement.

Commenting on accusing Palestinians of being terrorists, Algosaibi said: "And while we are on the subject of terrorism, I am most curious to know your view of Samson of the Old Testament. Was he a suicide terrorist?"

The Telegraph story that front-paged in Gulf News on Friday, quoted British officials as saying that the British Foreign Office would rebuke Algosaibi over his martyrdom poem.

In other follow-up stories in this paper, the British Foreign Office sources denied any plans to rebuke Algosaibi saying that they would only convey to him their differences over the matter.

Algosaibi later held talks with a senior British Foreign Office official to whom the Saudi ambassador had "stressed the need to end the fight in the Middle East and implement the Arab peace initiative, initiated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

In his verse, Algosaibi singled out Ayat Akhras, a Palestinian girl who blew herself up in occupied Jerusalem last month and killed and wounded many Israelis. He addressed her as saying: "The gates of heaven were open for you."

He also attacked the U.S. as saying: "We complained to the to the idols of a White House whose heart is filled with darkness."

A well-known poet and diplomat who served in London for 10 years, he said in his poem: "May God be the witness that you are martyrs...You died to hnour God's word... (You) committed suicide? We committed suicide by living like the dead."