THE Palestinian President seized the initiative in his power struggle with Hamas yesterday by threatening to call a referendum unless it agreed to a two-state solution.

President Abbas gave the Islamist Government 10 days to back a proposal that recognises Israel, or face a national vote on the issue 30 days later.

The move appeared to wrong-foot Hamas, whose refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence has led to international isolation and the freezing of millions of dollars in international aid.

Waiting until the last minute of an otherwise turgid address to a “national dialogue” conference broadcast live on television, Mr Abbas, a Fatah leader, called on his Islamist rivals to accept a proposal drawn up by Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and other prisoners in Israeli jails — foremost among them the Fatah populist Marwan Barghouti.

As with the IRA and loyalist groups in Northern Ireland, prisoners wield huge influence in their movements.

“If you do not reach an agreement, I would like to tell you frankly that I will put this document to a referendum,” Mr Abbas told delegates. He then walked out before anyone could question him.

His move came against a backdrop of heavy fighting between Fatah and Hamas gunmen that threatens to plunge Gaza into civil war. Mr Abbas deplored the “jungle of the gun” and said: “The whole nation is in danger. We can’t wait for the rest of our lives.”

The prisoners’ document called for a unity government, for a negotiated settlement with Israel if it withdraws from the Palestinian territories it has occupied since 1967, and for international negotiations to be the responsibility of the President and the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation rather than the Hamas-led Government.

The two key clauses talk of “the right to establish their independent state with al-Quds al-Sharif [Jerusalem] as its capital on all territories occupied in 1967” and “the joining of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Movements to the PLO”. Seemingly a technicality, the latter is significant because the PLO’s charter recognises Israel’s right to exist, meaning Hamas would be implicity accepting the Jewish state if it signed up.

More controversially, it also calls for the right of Palestinian refugees to return to a Palestinian homeland — an idea Israel implacably opposes because the influx of millions from refugee camps in Lebanon and elsewhere would shift the region’s demographic balance.

Clarifying the ultimatum, Mr Abbas’s spokesman, Walid Awad, said that all parties had to reach agreement not just on the factional infighting but on the wider political issues. “This document is acceptable to the majority of the Palestinian people and that is where its strength lies,” he said. “All the small conflicts will disappear once there is agreement on the guiding principles.”

Hamas appeared to be divided over the proposal, although its main themes have featured in private talks between Mr Abbas and Ismail Haniya, the Prime Minister.

The party protested at the timing, its “pre-emptive” nature and its threat to bypass the Government’s popular mandate. But Ghazi Hamad, a government spokesman, said that it would “accept the will of the people”. He added: “As a Government we have no problem with the President negotiating with Israel. Speaking very frankly we can also accept a state on the 1967 borders. We don’t ask for more.” He indicated that Hamas was “very, very close” to agreeing the terms on which it could join a reformed PLO, historically dominated by Mr Abbas’s secular Fatah.

Hamas’s charter commits it to the destruction of Israel, although its leadership years ago offered a long-term truce based on a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. But facing bankruptcy andisolation, the group has sought to find a form of words that would allow it to comply with international demands that it recognise Israel, end violence and abide by previous agreements, without alienating its hardliners. A referendum, and joining the PLO, could provide it with a convenient way to recognise Israel by the back door.

The idea of a referendum was foreshadowed two months ago when the Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, now Foreign Minister, hinted that a referendum would allow Hamas to refer the decision to the electorate. “We may need [to ask] the general attitudes of our people,” he told The Times. “This is the land of the people, it is not the land of the government.”

Israel said that the move was “an internal Palestinian matter”, but significantly it allowed the delivery of light arms to Mr Abbas’s personal guard.

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