Abbas urges factions to back new Palestinian proposal

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 25 (Reuters) President Mahmoud Abbas today said he would call a referendum on a Palestinian proposal seeking a negotiated settlement with Israel if rival factions could not agree on the plan.

Abbas said he would give delegates to a current 'national dialogue' meeting between Islamic group Hamas and his own Fatah movement up to 10 days to reach an agreement on the plan before calling for a popular vote.

''If you do not reach agreement by then (10 days), I would like to tell you frankly that I will put this document to a referendum,'' Abbas told the delegates. ''This is not a threat.'' The plan, drawn up by members of both Fatah and Hamas who are in jail in Israel, calls for resistance but a negotiated settlement with Israel if the Jewish state withdraws fully from West Bank land it has occupied since 1967.

It also calls for a unity government and for Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Many Palestinian factions support the plan, but senior Hamas leaders have not yet signed up to it. Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, does not recognise Israel's right to exist, which is implicit in the proposal being put forward.

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