Abbas extends ultimatum; Gaza fighting intensifies

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas yesterday extended his ultimatum to Hamas, giving it until the weekend to agree to the so-called Prisoners' Document.

Abbas had originally said that he would call a referendum on the document - a blueprint for a national unity government drafted by Palestinians jailed in Israel - if Hamas did not accept it by today. Such a referendum could be viewed as a vote of confidence in the two-month-old Hamas government.

Representatives of Hamas and Abbas's Fatah party left for Yemen yesterday to continue negotiations with the assistance of Yemeni President Abdullah Salah. The Hamas delegation was led by Khaled Meshal, who heads the organization's overseas wing.

Meanwhile, a new poll released yesterday shows that 77 percent of Palestinians support the document, which states that the Palestinian people "desires the liberation of its lands ... including the right to establish an independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital on all the territories occupied in 1967."

The poll, conducted by Birzeit University in Ramallah, also indicated a dramatic drop in support for Hamas: 37 percent of respondents said they would vote for Hamas if parliamentary elections were held today, compared to 50 percent in April. Some 37 percent said they would vote Fatah.


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