GAZA CITY, Dec 15: Palestinian hard liners rejected on Wednesday a call by new PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas to lay down their weapons as a spiralling death toll in Gaza threatened to undermine his efforts to bring calm to the region.

Armed factions have so far rebuffed efforts by Mahmoud Abbas, favourite to be elected Palestinian Authority president on January 9, to institute a new cease fire and firmly rejected his argument Wednesday that the use of weapons since the September 2000 start of the second intifada had been a mistake.

"Such declarations run counter to the consensus among our people over the legitimacy of the resistance," Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Islamic movement Hamas, said. "The problem is the Israeli occupation and not the resistance."

Mohammed al Hindi, a leader of Hamas's smaller rival Islamic Jihad, said "the Palestinians need weapons of resistance against the Israeli occupation". In an interview on Tuesday with pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al Awsat, Mr Abbas said "the use of weapons is harmful and it should stop".

Mr Abbas has previously criticized the "militarization" of the struggle against occupation but it was his most clear-cut condemnation of the armed factions' tactics since taking the PLO helm after Yasser Arafat's death on Nov 11.

His willingness to upset the factions appears to reflect confidence over his election prospects and taps into a growing disillusionment among middle-class Palestinians after four years of violence.

It also won him praise from within Israel. "It is a position that reflects leadership, worries about the Palestinian situation and is also a mark of responsibility," said President Moshe Katsav.

Mr Abbas's comments were also welcomed by the US administration. "Fighting terrorism and ending the violence is critical to moving forward on building the institutions for a viable (Palestinian) state to emerge," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. -AFP