RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian divisions deepened on Saturday as democratically elected Hamas rejected Mahmud Abbas' call for January elections, accusing him of usurping power.
Abbas pledged to pursue reconciliation efforts with the democratic elected movement and denied the election call was a "stunt."
But analysts highlighted the challenge he would face in organising elections in Gaza, where Hamas has held sway since mid 2007.
"We are going to pursue our efforts for reconciliation" with Hamas, Abbas said a day after calling presidential and legislative elections for January 24.
Abbas issued a decree late Friday calling elections in the Palestinian territories of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, in a move seen as turning up the heat on Hamas to sign a much-delayed Egyptian-brokered deal for Palestinian unity.
Hamas -- which trounced Abbas's Fatah faction in the last parliamentary elections in January 2006 -- rejected the move.
"This is an illegal and unconstitutional step because Abu Mazen's (Abbas's) tenure is over and he has no right to issue any decree concerning this" election, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said on Friday.
Abbas was elected on January 9, 2005 for a four-year term. The Palestinian Authority extended his presidency by one year so presidential and parliamentary elections could be held on the same date.
Hamas has consistently rejected the extension granted to Abbas, and does not consider him to be the legitimate president of the Palestinian people.
Barhum said Abbas was making a "deliberate attempt to make (Palestinian) divisions permanent," by calling elections for January.
And on Saturday, Hamas said Abbas -- whose term in office expired in early January 2009 -- should be put on trial.
Abbas "must be tried for usurping power," deputy Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Bahar told a news conference in Gaza City.
The decree calling elections "has no value whatsoever from a constitutional point of view," he said.
Hani al-Masri, a Ramallah-based political analyst, said the calling of elections is a "political tactic" aimed at twisting the arms of Hamas leaders to sign the reconciliation deal.
"But there is a (big) step between the publication of a decree and the holding of elections on the ground," he said.
Mukhaimar Abu Saada, lecturer in political sciences at Gaza's Al-Azhar University, predicts a heightened war of words between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah.
The split between the factions has become "the central question" for Palestinians.
Tension could mount still further if Hamas decides to call elections in the Gaza Strip, the academic said.
"That would lead to political division and a permanent break" between Hamas and Fatah," Abu Saada said.
Palestinian independent MP Hassan Khreisheh said Abbas wants to hold elections to confirm his legitimacy in the eyes of the international community and to be able to negotiate with Israel.
On Saturday Abbas said he is determined to proceed with organising the polls.
"The elections decree is very serious; it is not a stunt," he told delegates of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Central Committee gathered in Ramallah.
He insisted, however, that he will not close the door on efforts brokered by Egypt to patch up deep divisions between Hamas and Fatah.
"Even if we don't succeed now, we will try again because reconciliation is in the interest of the Palestinian people," Abbas said.
Palestinian PM sees state structure ready by 2011
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said, in an interview published Saturday, that his government was determined to complete building a structure of a future Palestinian state by 2011.
"We've committed ourselves to a path of completing the task of institution building," he told The Washington Post.
He said the institution building meant "the capacity to govern ourselves effectively in all spheres of government within two years."
Asked if Palestinians should declare an independent state in 2011, Fayyad said: "I said this will be the program of the Palestinian government -- it will commit itself to deliver the state in terms of capacity within two years."
Netanyahu: Israel needs to be recognized as Jewish state
Meanwhile, hardline Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in an interview published Saturday, Palestinians needed to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in order to resolve their conflict.
"That's right," Netanyahu told The Washington Post when asked if such a recognition was needed.
"Israel is not a binational state," he explained. "It has non-Jews who live here with full, equal rights, but it has two things that assure its special character. It's the homeland of any Jew. And there is a very broad consensus in Israel that the Palestinian refugee problem should be resolved outside Israel's borders."
Netanyahu said Palestinians will have to make a final peace deal with "the Jewish state of Israel."
"Jews come here and Palestinians will go there. So choose. That's the basis of a solution," the Israeli prime minister said.
Churches urge 'resistance' to Israeli settlements