Palestinian deputy parliament speaker and senior Hamas member Ahmed Bahar called upon Palestinian factions on Saturday to boycott a plan which calls for an independent Palestinian state on Gaza and the West Bank.

Bahar slammed the plan as "harming some Palestinian national interests" and "oppressing the Palestinian people and their cause. "

He also urged Palestinian factions to reject the plan and related international resolutions which he said called for internationalizing Jerusalem.

Bahar's statements drew criticism from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.

Fatah lawmaker Jamal al-Tirawi denounced Bahar's remarks and called upon Palestinian factions to respect the Palestinian national interests and agree on the plan which he said provided a "logical" solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The plan, also known as the Prisoners' Document for it was drafted by Palestinian leaders jailed by Israel, supports resistance against the Israeli occupation as well as a negotiated settlement with the Jewish state.

It also calls for the formation of a Palestinian national unity government and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the Gaza Strip and West Bank with East Jerusalem as capital if Israel withdraws to borders before the 1967 Mideast war.

The proposal is widely seen as recognizing Israel implicitly.

On May 25, Abbas, in a surprise move, announced that he would call a referendum on the plan if Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah failed to agree on it within 10 days.

The deadline expires on June 4.

Subsequent talks have been held under the auspices of Abbas during the past few days, but Hamas did not attend any of the meetings.

Some senior members in Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruct, have recently voiced reservation about the plan or rejected it.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, defeated Abbas' Fatah movement in the January legislative polls and formed a new Palestinian government in late March.

Source: Xinhua