Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas takes part in a meeting with the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank city of Ramallah.(Xinhua/AFP)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas might give factions three more days to accept the so-called prisoners' initiative calling for a Palestinian state alongside Israel after they failed to reach agreement on it by Monday's deadline, a PLO official said yesterday.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told reporters after a meeting of the committee that Abbas might extend the national dialogue for three days to allow the factions to reach agreement on the initiative drawn up by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails last month.

"The Palestinian National Authority is determined to keep the dialogue until the last moment to secure a united national attitude based on the prisoners' document," he added. Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Abbas and the PLO executive committee had decided to extend the 10-day deadline for accepting the initiative until Friday, the Moslem weekend.

The sources said that the PLO executive committee would recommend holding a referendum by the weekend if the dialogue fails to agree on the initiative.

On May 25, Abbas opened a national dialogue by giving Palestinian factions ten days until June 5 to accept the so-called prisoners' initiative or he would put the proposal to a referendum within 40 days.

Hamas, which remains committed to the destruction of Israel, has so far refused to accept the document which is widely seen as implicit recognition of the Jewish state.

Jamal Nazzal, a Hamas lawmaker, told reporters that Abbas had extended the ultimatum for holding the referendum and didn't extend the period for the national dialogue.

Earlier, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri urged Abbas to have more talks in order to overcome political differences.

"We are ready for more dialogue and there is no need for the referendum," he said.

Hamas premier Ismail Haneya has dismissed the referendum in the Palestinian territories as illegal.