WEST BANK Yasser Arafat says he doesn't care about death threats from Sharon

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) -- Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat brushed off Israeli threats to kill him, as U.S. and other world leaders criticized Israel's prime minister for suggesting an act that could plunge the region deeper into chaos.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in interviews published a day earlier that two of his arch foes, Arafat and a Lebanese guerrilla leader Hassan Nasrallah, should not feel beyond the reach of assassination by Israeli forces.
Arafat emerged Saturday from his office to speak to reporters in the West Bank headquarters complex where he's been confined for more than two years by such threats.
"For me, I don't care," Arafat said in halting English from the front steps of his office. "I care only for my people, for our students, for our children."
Taking threats seriously
His aides, however, say they are taking the threats seriously.
In Washington, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage responded to Sharon's comments, saying, "Our position on such questions -- the exile or assassination of Yasser Arafat -- is very well known. We are opposed, and we have made that very clear to the government of Israel."
Russia's Foreign Ministry criticized the Israeli threats on Saturday.
"Russia has repeatedly spoken against the practice of extrajudicial executions, which not only violate the norms of international law but also run counter to efforts to break the meaningless cycle of violence," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said.