JERUSALEM Ñ Israel has served an ultimatum to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to immediately extradite the killers of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi and to outlaw radical groups.

"The cabinet has decided to demand that Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority extradite immediately the assassins of Minister Zeevi," cabinet secretary Gidon Saar said. The PA must "declare illegal all the terrorist organizations, as provided for in the accords concluded. If the Palestinian Authority does not meet our demands, there will be no choice but to consider it as an entity that supports terrorism and to act accordingly." Israel has not set a time limit for the ultimatum.

Israeli security officials have identified the Palestinian killers of Zeevi and have handed the names over to the PA. Earlier, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the assassination. The PFLP said the assassination was in reprisal for the murder of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustapha, killed in August in the West Bank town of Ramallah when Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles into his office.

On Wednesday, Palestinian police arrested PFLP spokesman Ali Jarada in Ramallah but released him several hours later. Overnight Wednesday, PFLP sources said that the PA arrested two PFLP members in Gaza Ñ Dr. Rabah Muhana and Unis Al Jaroh Ñ and several others in the West Bank and east Jersualem. PA officials would not confirm the arrests. PFLP sources said Muhana and Al Jaroh are political not military activists and were the only two PFLP members at home when PA police officers came to arrest them. Other PFLP members in Gaza have gone underground.

On Thursday, PA security forces arrested several PFLP members in the West Bank village of Azaraiah while the Doha-based Al Jazeera satellite channel reported that the PFLP has targeted Israeli Prime Minsiter Ariel Sharon for its next attack.

In Washington, the United States is pressuring Arafat to comply with the Israeli demand to hand over the killers of the ultra right-wing Zeevi. Zeevi had advocated transfering all the Arabs out of the State of Israel.

"It is a very serious situation," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said.

"We have noted the statement of the Palestinian Authority condemning this assassination. This statement is appropriate, but words are not enough," a White House statement said. "It is time for the Palestinian Authority to take vigorous action against terrorists. The PFLP, which operates openly in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, has claimed responsibility for this heinous act. The PA must immediately find and bring to justice those who committed this murder, as well as those who would do harm to efforts to restore an atmosphere of calm and security for Israelis and Palestinians."

Earlier, the PA released a statement condemning the killing. "We regret the assassination of Mr. Zeevi," the statement said. "We do not feel that these ultra right-wing positions justify the assassination of an Israeli political figure."

Israeli forces entered the PA-controlled towns of Ramallah and Jenin overnight Wednesday. Palestinians continued to clash with Israeli troops on Thursday. PA sources said that a 10 year-old girl was killed in the clashes in Ramallah and a PA police officer and a member of Arafat's praetorian Force-17 were killed in Jenin.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Avigdor Lieberman withdrew his resignation following the assassination. On Tuesday Lieberman and Zeevi had quit the government after Israel's withdrawal from the Abu Sneina neighborhood in the West Bank town of Hebron.

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