HAMAS pulled its new police force off the streets of Gaza yesterday to ease tensions with the rival Palestinian Authority security forces.

The controversial “black militia” was ordered to take a lower profile after delegates at a National Dialogue conference demanded an end to factional bloodshed that has threatened to turn into civil war.

Hamas, eager to dispel the perception that it was backing down, said that it still planned to merge the new force with the official police.

As it wages a power struggle with Mahmoud Abbas, the secular President, the Islamist group’s leaders were defiant in mosques, television interviews and at the conference. They had been wrong-footed on Thursday by Mr Abbas’s threat to call a referendum within 40 days on a two-state solution.

Ismail Haniya, the Prime Minister, arrived to a hero’s welcome at a mosque in Hamas’s Jabaliya stronghold and delivered a “no concessions” speech. It remains unclear whether Mr Abbas’s referendum can overcome logistical, legal and political obstacles but opinion polls suggest that he would win support for a two-state solution.

He received plaudits at home and abroad for regaining the momentum after months in which his authority was questioned. The Israeli Government described the referendum as an “internal Palestinian matter”.

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