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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/world/middleeast/26mideast.html
Abbas Says He'd Put Peace Plan to a Vote
(New York Times) Greg Myre - Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that he would call a referendum on a proposal for a Palestinian state that would recognize Israel, if the governing Hamas party failed to accept the plan within ten days. Abbas seems to be gambling that he can force his Fatah party and Hamas to agree on a broad framework for dealing with Israel, which Hamas now refuses to recognize. But he runs the risk of provoking a political showdown. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, described Abbas' announcement as an internal Palestinian matter. In the past Israel has strongly rejected two of the plan's provisions: returning to pre-1967 borders and giving Palestinian refugees the right to return to lands they left in 1948.