Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not attend talks with Hamas officials scheduled for Sunday in the Gaza Strip unless Hamas softens its hardline position and agrees on a proposal which seeks a negotiated settlement with Israel, well-informed Palestinian sources said on Sunday.

Abbas will not go to Gaza and meet Hamas leaders without assurances that he will succeed (in getting Hamas' agreement on the proposal), because any failure will have negative consequences on the ground, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Talks among Palestinian factions over the proposal have so far failed to make any progress.

Most of Hamas officials have voiced grave reservation about the proposal or rejected it.

The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) also turned down the proposal, which is widely seen as recognizing Israel implicitly.

Abbas has announced that he will call a referendum on the proposal if factions fail to agree on it by Sunday.

The proposal, 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.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, has taken control of the Palestinian parliament and the government following a landslide election victory in January. The group publicly calls for Israel's destruct and refuses to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist and abide by previous deals with Israel.

Parliament speaker Abdel Aziz Dweik will represent Hamas in the Gaza talks later in the day and Raouhi Fattouh, senior official of Abbas' Fatah movement and Dweik's predecessor, will attend the talks on behalf of Fatah.

Source: Xinhua