SHOWDOWN LOOMS

With a Tuesday deadline looming for Hamas to accept the prisoners' document, Abbas repeated a pledge to hold referendum on the manifesto in July unless the group changed its mind.

"The document has to be accepted as it is. If we begin to change it, we will never reach a result," Abbas told a news conference after meeting Solana.

The document includes a clause calling for a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Hamas seeks to destroy the Jewish state and has rejected calls by Abbas and Western powers to soften its stance.

Such a challenge by Abbas, whose long-dominant Fatah faction was defeated by Hamas in a January election, could lead to more violence between the two groups.

Five people were killed in shootings involving Hamas and Fatah gunmen in two separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Sending a signal to Abbas, a Hamas-led force he opposes, deployed on Gaza's main streets after the latest violence.

Presidential envoys met Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh late on Sunday, but made no progress, a Hamas spokesman said.

A senior Palestinian official said Abbas will issue a referendum decree at noon on Tuesday if Hamas doesn't budge.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said such a move by Abbas would represent a coup against the elected government.

Israel said it was staying on the sidelines.

"Any move that occurs in the Palestinian Authority will be evaluated carefully but this is an internal Palestinian process and it's preferable for Israel not to interfere," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told reporters in Jerusalem.