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Last Updated: Friday, 9 June 2006 Hamas warns of referendum splits http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5065060.stm [Hamas wants to avoid a referendum on a two-state solution] The Hamas-controlled Palestinian government has warned that a planned referendum on how best to confront Israel risks splitting the community. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wants to call a referendum on whether Palestinians back a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel. But Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said the vote might cause a historic split in the ranks of the Palestinian people. Hamas does not recognise Israel and officially works for its destruction. [The idea of a referendum carries serious dangers... I fear that it will create historic division that will take decades to overcome Ismail Haniya] Mr Abbas's Fatah faction recognises Israel and wants to establish a state in the West Bank and Gaza. The plan Mr Abbas wants to put to a non-binding referendum is an 18-point programme agreed by various Palestinian faction members jailed by Israel. The document calls for continued Palestinian resistance within lands occupied by Israel in 1967, implicitly suggesting that attacks inside internationally-recognised Israel would end. 'Division' "The idea of a referendum carries serious dangers for the unity of the Palestinian people, and I fear that it may provoke an historic division that will take decades to overcome," Mr Haniya said in a letter addressed to Mr Abbas, the AFP news agency reported. The prime minister said Mr Abbas should host an "urgent national dialogue based on the prisoners' document in order to reach a national agreement". "Such an agreement would enable the formation of a national unity government," Mr Haniya said. Talks between the Palestinian factions on the issue have ostensibly been going on since Mr Abbas floated the idea of a referendum on 25 May. But Mr Abbas's camp appeared to brush aside Mr Haniya's appeal. A spokesman indicated that he still believed that the way to resolve the dispute between the government and the presidency was to go to the people. BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston says Mr Abbas is expected to announce on Saturday the holding of a referendum some time next month.
