RAMALLAH, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian poll published on Wednesday revealed that the majority of the Palestinians hold the Islamic Hamas movement responsible for the failure of a reconciliation dialogue among rival parties.

    According to the poll, 61 percent of the respondents believed that Hamas was responsible for the failure, while 22 percent said Fatah movement was responsible.

    The poll was conducted by the Center for Polls and Surveys of al-Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus, with 1365 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip participating in the poll. The margin of error was 3 percent.

    Hamas thwarted an Egyptian initiative to hold the inter-Palestinian reconciliation dialogue saying it cannot sit with Fatah while its supporters and members in the West Bank face a Fatah-led clampdown. The dialogue was due to start on Nov. 10.

    The two rival sides have been trading politically-motivated abductions against their dissidents since Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized the Gaza Strip in mid June 2007.

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) this week as president of the future state of Palestine, said that if the dialogue fails he would call for elections by early next year.

    Some 75 percent of the respondents believe that the interference of certain countries led to the failure of the dialogue, the poll showed.

    The poll said that 28 percent believe that the United States was behind the failure of the dialogue, while 27 percent held Israel responsible and 20 percent said Iran, which supports Hamas movement, was responsible.

    The poll also revealed that 52 percent supported early elections, adding that 59 percent supported the dissolution of the Hamas-dominant legislative council, while 31 percent opposed it.