GAZA, May 27: Hamas on Saturday rejected a deadline set by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to accept a plan that indirectly calls for recognition of Israel, which he has threatened to put to a referendum.

Mr Abbas had stunned the militant group, which won an election in January, by giving it 10 days to accept the plan, and talks had been expected to begin on Saturday.

However, Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said they would be delayed, adding: “There is no need for the 10-day idea. As long as we are talking about dialogue, there shouldn’t be any dates set.”

Mr Abbas says he will hold the vote within 40 days if

Hamas does not accept the plan, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel if Israel withdraws from occupied territories, and was drawn up by Palestinian leaders jailed by Israel.

Abu-Zuhri said the sides had also not agreed on a slate of negotiators. Hamas wants the talks to be held in Gaza, officials said.

Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction, has already rejected the plan.

Its continued refusal to renounce violence or recognise Israel has led to an international financial boycott that has threatened to bankrupt the Palestinian Authority.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, an official close to Abbas, said the Palestinian president would invite Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and other top officials to discuss the plan on Sunday.

Abed Rabbo cautioned that Abbas had the authority to dismiss the Hamas government.

Hamas legislator Mahmoud Ramahi told Reuters that Hamas was “not being offered anything in return” from the international community for recognising Israel.

The group has sought guarantees its members would no longer be subject to arrest as suspected militants.

HAMAS REDEPLOYS POLICE: A power struggle between Abbas’s Fatah and Hamas, which defeated Fatah in the January election, has intensified in recent weeks, raising fears of civil war.