Ken Livingstone has re-fuelled his dispute with British Jews by branding Ariel Sharon a "war criminal" and accusing Israel of "ethnic cleansing".

Writing in the Guardian today, the mayor of London also said Israel was guilty of demonising Muslims and said its prime minister should be imprisoned.

But he again rejected accusations of his own anti-Semitism which arose from his recent confrontation with a Jewish newspaper reporter whom he likened to a German concentration camp guard.

While stressing his opposition to racism and his regard for the Jewish people, Livingstone said Israel spread misinformation about the scale of anti-Semitism in Europe.

He said: "Israel's expansion includes ethnic cleansing.

"Palestinians who had lived in that land for centuries were driven out by systematic violence and terror aimed at ethnically cleansing what became a large part of the Israeli state.

"Today the Israeli government continues seizures of Palestinian land for settlements, military incursions into surrounding countries and denial of the right of Palestinians expelled by terror to return.

"Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, is a war criminal who should be in prison not in office."