Special report: Abbas calls for referendum on prisoners' document

    AMMAN, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that he will hold a referendum on a prisoners' document that implicitly recognizes Israel if a national dialogue fails.

    "I hope that this dialogue will succeed, for if we do not succeed, we will resort to the referendum," Abbas told Jordanian media after a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II.

    On May 25, Abbas convened a national dialogue to ask Palestinian factions to accept within 10 days the document filed by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or he would put the proposal to a referendum within 40 days.

    The document calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the territories that were occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It is seen as implicitly recognizing the Jewish state.

    On June 10, Abbas issued a presidential decree to hold a referendum on the document on July 26, but he stressed that talks would continue and the public vote would not proceed if an agreement is achieved.

    Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel's destruct, has rejected the referendum idea.

    The Islamic movement formed a government in late March after a sweeping election victory in January. Enditem