Graffiti threatening Sharon scrawled in bathroom in Israeli parliament

Two teenage girls acknowledged involvement in threatening graffiti left in the Israeli parliament, police said Thursday.

Police questioned the girls about separate, unrelated incidents earlier this week. During interrogation they acknowledged roles in the incident, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

On Nov. 7, vandals scrawled death threats against Israeli Prime Minister &to=http://english.pravda.ru/world/2003/01/13/41963.html' target=_blank>Ariel Sharon on the wall of a parliament bathroom while Sharon was in the building, parliamentary officials said.

The graffiti, discovered by cleaning crews in a women's restroom, warned that Sharon could meet the same fate as assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Israeli extremists labeled Sharon an enemy after he pulled Israel out of the Gaza Strip over the summer.

The threats, reading "Mr. Rabin is waiting for Mr. Sharon," and "We killed Rabin, and we will kill Sharon," were written on a mirror and in a bathroom stall. A third phrase labeled Sharon "a criminal of the disengagement," a reference to the Gaza pullout.

The threats were reminiscent of those made against Rabin before his murder 10 years ago by an ultranationalist Jew opposed to his concessions to the Palestinians.

"Somebody was brave enough to put this graffiti on the Israeli parliament. Everybody has to take it very, very seriously," parliament spokesman Giora Pordes said.

Parliament security officials launched an inquiry after discovering the graffiti, said Pordes. Earlier this week they turned their findings over to Israeli police.

One of the girls remained under arrest Thursday, and the second was expected to appear before a judge in Jerusalem on Friday. Rosenfeld said no charges would be filed until police completed their investigation. Their names and exact ages were not released.