He declared that "God should strike them with a plague - they are enemies of Israel".

In his weekly sermon in the synagogue near his Jerusalem home, he went on: "All those evil men - may they perish from this world.

"May God Almighty strike them and these Palestinians."

He called Abbas "an evil hater of Israel".

The 89-year-old rabbi is a respected religious scholar among Jews of Middle Eastern descent. He is also spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political movement - part of Israel's coalition government.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat fumed that Yosef's comments were tantamount to calling for "genocide against Palestinians".

Erekat added: "Ovadia called for the assassination of President Abbas, who in several days will sit face-to-face with Benjamin Netanyahu.

"Is this the way the Israeli government is preparing its public for a peace agreement?

"Yosef's comments are an absolute insult to our efforts to progress the peace process."

Netanyahu distanced himself from the inflammatory comments. He said they "don't represent the views of the Israeli government.

The prime minister added: "Israel entered into negotiations out of a desire to progress with the Palestinians towards an agreement that will end the conflict and ensure peace, security and good neighbourly relations between the two nations."

The US State Department condemned Yosef's comments, saying the words are "not only deeply offensive but incitement such as this hurts the cause of peace".

Spokesman P J Crowley said: "It is important that actions by people on all sides help to advance our effort, not hinder it."

* Rabbi Yosef is no stranger to controversy. He said that people who send their children to learn in secular schools will suffer punishment in this world and the next.

And last year he caused an uproar after arguing that those murdered in the Holocaust were a reincarnation of sinners from past generations.