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The proposal calls for a peace settlement if Israel withdraws from all of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, occupied since the 1967 Middle East war. This in itself is highly unlikely event. It also seeks a unity government.

Today a member of Hamas's exiled leadership said from Syria that Hamas would not be "blackmailed " into accepting the plan.

Mohammad Nazzal did not reject the proposal outright, but he criticised Mr Abbas for threatening to put it to a referendum. "We see this referendum as a tool of pressure on Hamas," Mr Nazzal told Reuters in Damascus.

Mr Haniya himself, meanwhile, told worshippers at a Gaza mosque that his government would make no concessions. "Even if they besiege us from all directions, they should not dream that we will make any political concessions," said Mr Haniya.

Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas MP, told Reuters that Palestinians everywhere would need to take part in any referendum - a condition that would undermine efforts to hold it, as many Palestinians live in refugees camps in the Arab world.

Hamas officials say that the group is divided over whether to recognise Israel. A referendum could offer Hamas a face-saving compromise, providing cover for the militants to become more moderate without appearing to succumb to Western pressure.

Most polls in recent years have shown strong Palestinian public support for a state along the 1967 borders. Such a vote could also renew pressure on Israel to return to the negotiating table rather than impose borders on the Palestinians.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, has said he is planning to unilaterally set Israel’s border with the West Bank if he believes peace talks are impossible. During a trip to Washington this week, Mr Olmert’s unilateral plan was favourably received at the White House.

Mr Abbas has urged Israel to return to the negotiating table, but Mr Olmert says this is impossible as long as Hamas remains sworn to the destruction of his country.

Israel has not commented but has long rejected pulling back from all the West Bank. It has said it intends to keep large Jewish settlement blocs there and also considers Jerusalem its "eternal and undivided capital".

Tensions in the Palestinian areas have been steadily rising since Hamas defeated Mr Abbas’s Fatah party in January elections. Hamas's refusal to accept demands from Mr Abbas and the West to recognise Israel has triggered an international aid boycott that has brought the Palestinian Authority to its knees.

Mr Abbas, elected separately last year, has been seeking to counter Hamas’s power, removing authority over security forces from the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry and asserting that he has the authority to conduct peace negotiations with Israel.

In response, Hamas formed the new security unit in defiance of Mr Abbas. Further enraging the President, it appointed as head of the unit a senior militant high on Israel’s most-wanted list and suspected in the deadly 2003 bombing of a US diplomatic convoy.

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