The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) announced yesterday that it would not ink the agreement reached by Palestinian factions over a proposal seeking Palestinian statehood.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian factions including the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement announced reaching a deal on the proposal which seeks a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as capital, land Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war.

"We affirm that we did not sign on the Prisoners' Document and will never sign and we will stick to our principles of resistance and restoring all the rights of the Palestinians," senior Jihad leader Khader Habib told a news conference held in Gaza.

The proposal, named the Prisoners' Document for it was drafted by prominent Palestinian leaders jailed by Israel, also calls for limiting armed resistance against Israel to the West Bank and Gaza.

"We refuse to reduce our homeland within the 1967 borders. That means recognition of the Zionist entity's state," Habib said.

He added that Jihad also objected to the point in the proposal which urges acceptance of UN resolutions over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an Arab peace initiative which espouses the principle of "land for peace."

"The Arab and international resolutions are incapable of protecting the Palestinians' rights and they are also partial to the one Zionist soldier," Habib said, referring to an Israeli soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants during a cross-border attack on Sunday.

Jihad is sworn to Israel's destruct and has been behind deadly attacks against Israel in the past.