'I will ignore agreements with Abbas'

Israel's Likud chairman and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu says he would ignore agreements reached between Olmert and Abbas, should he be elected.

"I will regard the election as a referendum on any peace deal Olmert might reach with Mahmoud Abbas," Netanyahu Israel's Likud chairman, told the Makor Rishon daily on Thursday.

He further suggested that if Olmert loses the election, it means that the Israelis do not approve of his policies towards Palestinians. “You cannot force upon the people a move they do not want,” Netanyahu said.

Last year in Annapolis, the Palestinian Authority Chief, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli officials agreed to reach a peace deal by the end of 2008. Ever since, the Palestinians have frequently criticized Israel for failing to fulfill that promise.

Analysts believe that the so called peace talks are widely considered as a political maneuver by Washington to repair the image of the Bush administration, which is shattered by its wrong policies in the Middle East. Link