ABBAS
RAMALLAH, West Bank, (Reuters):
PRESIDENT MAHMOUD Abbas vowed yesterday to call a referendum if the Hamas-led Government refuses to back a proposal for a Palestinian state that implicitly recognises Israel.
A referendum would amount to a confidence vote that could bring to a head the growing power struggle between Abbas and the Islamist militant group, whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Hamas, which won elections in January, has refused to bow to pressure from Western countries to soften its stand on Israel despite an aid boycott that has brought the Palestinian Authority to near collapse.
10 DAYS TO ACCEPT A PROPOSAL
Abbas gave leaders of Hamas and his own Fatah faction 10 days to accept a proposal agreeing to a peace settlement if Israel withdraws from all of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, occupied since the 1967 Middle East war.
The proposal was drawn up in an Israeli jail by senior prisoners from factions including Hamas and Fatah.
"If you do not reach an agreement, I would like to tell you frankly that I will put this document to a referendum," Abbas said on the first day of a two-day 'national dialogue' designed to resolve differences between the factions.
REFERENDUM IN 40 DAYS
If an agreement is not reached on the proposal, the referendum would be held in 40 days' time, Abbas said.
The proposal also calls for a unity government and an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with its capital in Jerusalem. Other aspects include the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
Many elements of the proposal are still unlikely to be accepted by Israel, which has said it intends to maintain large settlement blocs on occupied West Bank land and annexed East Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Fatah and several other Palestinian factions back the plan, but Hamas has not signed up to it.
