GAZA CITY, Oct 10: The adviser of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Nabil Amr, told journalists that the Qatar-sponsored mediation had "failed".

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani travelled to the Gaza Strip for separate talks with Mr Abbas and Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya overnight in a bid to help end a standoff between Abbas and the Hamas-led government over recognising Israel.

But the Islamic militant movement refused to bow to demands by Mr Abbas and the international community that any Palestinian government recognise Israel and past peace agreements, and renounce violence.

"This (Qatari) initiative was the last chance," Nabil Amr told the newsmen in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah.

He said Abbas had "various options" at his disposal to end the crisis, namely appointing an emergency or independent government, calling snap polls or organising a referendum on a moderate government platform.

"The president will opt for the best solution from the constitutional point of view and the most acceptable for the international community," Amr said.

But a Hamas government spokesman dismissed the threat of new parliamentary polls. "There is no place to talk about early elections," Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas-led government, told a Gaza City news conference.

He said: "We are facing problems, especially on two points, to renounce what's called terrorism and the second about the states."

His Islamist movement is blacklisted as a terrorist outfit by Israel and the West for its decade-long campaign of suicide bombings inside the Jewish state, although Hamas has not claimed any such attack for more than 18 months.

"We are not terrorist organisation. We are against terrorism. We are a resistant movement. We are fighting against the occupation," Mr Hamad said, implicitly rejecting a demand from the West that the Hamas renounce violence.

He reiterated that Hamas would not recognise Israel but said the government was willing to see a Palestinian state created on land occupied since 1967.

"We are not ready to bestow on Israel wanton legality at a time when the occupation in the Palestinian territories continues," Mr Hamad said, nevertheless ruling out any question that "failure point" had been reached.—AFP