He said the Lebanese government should have declared Blair "persona non grata," accusing him of supporting the Israeli military blitz against Hezbollah guerrillas.

Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said Blair was "a real partner in the Israeli-American war on Lebanon" and should have been brought to account instead of being welcomed.

Fadlallah held Blair responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Lebanese civilians during the 34-day fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas because he supported the United States in preventing a quick cease-fire to end the war.

Blair, currently visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories, is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Monday as part of a Middle East tour which comes as he faces intense political troubles at home.

Blair's handling of the Lebanon conflict was a major cause of the fierce rebellion in his governing Labour Party that forced him to announce on Thursday that he would resign within a year. Many Labour loyalists saw his refusal to demand a quick cease-fire as a tacit backing of Israel's offensive.

The British prime minister defended his position, saying Saturday in Jerusalem it had taken time to negotiate a peace deal that would hold.

Anti-U.S. Lebanese parties and groups are planning to protest Blair's visit with a demonstration in downtown Beirut on Monday.

The Lebanese daily Al Balad said Sunday that riots might erupt during the demonstration to disrupt Blair's visit.

"Until when will Lebanon remain an open arena for those who have conspired against its people and its state in favor of Israel?" Fadlallah, the top religious authority for Lebanon's 1.2 million Shiites, said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.

Fadlallah, whose house and office in south Beirut were flattened by Israeli airstrikes during the Israel-Hezbollah war that ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire on Aug. 14, said Blair was responsible for pushing Britain to be "subservient" to the U.S. administration in its wars on Arab and Muslim peoples.

"He (Blair) participated in one way or another in the American-Israeli madness spree against Lebanon and acted like a killer of children, women and the elderly and worked to prevent a cease-fire from being reached," Fadlallah said.

Blair on Sunday faced protesters during his visit to the West Bank for talks with the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

About a dozen protesters gathered in downtown Ramallah, hoisting Palestinian flags and banners saying, "Blair is a man of war, not a man of peace," and "Tony, don't show your face here."

Last week, a group of Palestinian intellectuals said Blair should be barred from Palestinian territory because of his support for Israel during the fighting with Hezbollah. (AP)