Jack Straw in the Commons

Israeli premier Ariel Sharon has accused the foreign secretary of making "unnecessary interventions" in the Middle East.

Ahead of a visit to London by his foreign minister on Thursday, Sharon did little to thaw the already frosty relations between the two countries.

The Israeli leader highlighted comments by Jack Straw in which he called for all United Nations resolutions to be observed, including those urging Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories.

Straw had said in the House of Commons that it was Britain's "responsibility" to deal with Iraq and "also, yes, to deal with the Israel-Palestine crisis".

"I feel upset and angry about the plight of the Palestinians, but I also feel angry and upset about the terror under which the Israelis have had to live," he added.

Sharon chose the day before Silvan Shalom's visit to London to describe how upset he had been at the comments, as well as expressing criticism of the British prime minister.

"In my younger days, I always saw Tony Blair...as a friend of Israel," he told the Jerusalem Post newspaper.

"And he may be a friend of Israel today, but those comparisons, the demands on Israel, appeared to me as unnecessary intervention."

A Downing Street spokesman said only that the prime minister "remains committed to doing all he can to help reach a settlement in the Middle East".

That was why he welcomed the publication of the peace process road map at the end of last month, the spokesman added.

Relations between Britain and Israel have been strained since Blair angered Sharon when he invited Labour opposition leader Amram Mitzna to Number 10 in the run-up to the Israeli elections earlier this year.

Sharon felt this was an inappropriate show of partisanship at a sensitive time, although Blair insisted it was nothing more than a routine diplomatic meeting of the kind he conducts with many opposition figures from other countries.

The hardline Sharon responded by banning Palestinian delegates from attending a Middle East conference in London.