Deadline looms for Abbas's threat to call two-state poll

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, is on the brink of calling a referendum that is designed to overcome Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel.

Barring an unexpected breakthrough in eleventh- hour negotiations between officials in his Fatah faction and the Hamas cabinet, Mr Abbas was said to be ready to issue a decree as early as tomorrow authorising an unprecedented plebiscite on the principle of a two- state solution.

Aides to Mr Abbas reported him to be determined yesterday, despite continued Hamas opposition, to go ahead with a referendum intended to demonstrate that he has a mandate to negotiate with Israel.

Although his aides said the deadline set for Hamas to approve the document proposing a two-state solution - to pre-1967 borders - technically passed last night, Yasser Abed Rabbo, Mr Abbas's negotiator on the document, said: "The ultimatum given to Hamas expires Tuesday morning."

Assuming the referendum goes ahead, Mr Abbas, who has already held talks with the Palestinian Electoral Commission on the mechanics, will urge support for the document drawn up a group of Fatah and Hamas prisoners in the Israeli Hadarim jail last month.

Sections of Hamas have been groping towards the endorsement of a Palestinian state alongside the 1967 borders, in return for a long-term truce. But, while not explicitly mentioning the recognition of Israel, the prisoners' document goes well beyond such Hamas hints by proposing a "final" deal based on two separate states, side by side.

Mr Abbas is banking on opinion polls showing that a decisive majority of Palestinians favour a two-state solution. Nevertheless, his office issued a statement last week acknowledging that the strategy was a "very risky" gamble and making it clear that he would stand down if the referendum went against him.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, outlined his unilateral "realignment" plan - for a substantial withdrawal from parts of the West Bank, while effectively annexing the biggest settlement blocks - to the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, yesterday. Mr Olmert was dismissive of the prisoners' document as a basis for negotiation.

He reportedly told the cabinet, before leaving for the meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh: "Its contents are completely unacceptable and it isn't a basis for anything. I wouldn't bother to respond to it because it is an internal Palestinian issue."

Mr Olmert said after the meeting that he would pursue negotiations with Mr Abbas but that progress would first require compliance with the "road-map". Israel says that means the dismantling of armed groups, an objective further complicated by Hamas's election to office.

Mr Abbas is nevertheless hoping that Palestinian endorsement will lead to European and even US pressure on Israel to treat him as a plausible "partner". He also hopes that it may lead to an easing of the international and Israeli economic blockade on the Hamas-led authority, which has left 165,000 Palestinian Authority employees in their third month without pay.

The Palestinian Prime Minister, the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, again challenged the legal basis of the referendum, declaring: "The local law does not permit holding referendums ..."