Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei on Tuesday called on Israelis to elect parties that support peace in the Israeli general elections set on March 28.

"We call on the Israeli voters to elect their parties that support peace in Israel and anyone who wants peace through the general elections to be held in Israel soon," Qurei told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah.

Asserting that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Palestinian people are determined to seek peace, Qurei blamed Israelis for erecting checkpoints in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, saying it was obstruction to peacemaking.

Qurei made the remarks when a political ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Israel Radio that Sharon will try to clinch a final peace deal with the Palestinians if elected to a third term.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit said Sharon's new party, Kadima, "will strive in this term to reach a final status agreement with the Palestinians and to set Israel's permanent boundaries."

After being convinced that his Likud dissidents would try hard to stifle further actions after the Gaza pullout, Sharon, a cofounder of the Likud, quit last Monday his old faction and formed the new centrist Kadima party.

Recent polls conducted by media show that Sharon, who enjoys a high popularity because of the pullout, would form a coalition government with the Labor party, which also supports a final peace deal with the Palestinians.

Source: Xinhua