RAMALLAH, December 31, 2007 (WAFA) - President Mahmud Abbas said on Monday that he was ready to "open a new page" with Hamas if ended its coup in the Gaza Strip.

"I call on those who carried out the putsch... to open a new page," President Abbas told a gathering of Fatah officials in Rammallah in a speech commemorating the 43rd anniversary of Fateh'.

"No party should supplant another," he said. "The putsch and the military edge should not be a part of our vocabulary. Only dialogue should prevail."

However he reiterated that no talks with Hamas can take place unless it gives up the power they seized in Gaza.

He also urged Hamas to agree to early elections, " "I renew the option of early elections ... and I pledge that I will do my best to ensure this election will be the product of a deep and brotherly understanding," Abbas said.

"I urge all, Fatah and Hamas movements and all other Palestinian factions, to study this alternative and not to rush, as usual, to reject it".

He called on the Israeli government to cease settlement construction and dismantle its Apartheid Wall in the West Bank, saying they "undermine the basis of the independent Palestinian state and block the two-state solution."

President Abbas also complained about Israeli army checkpoints in the West Bank. "There are 640 Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank and Israel did not lift or remove any of them," he said.

"We are filled with hope that this new year will be our year of victory and independence, that we will see the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he said.

President Abbas also said the Palestinian National Authority would not cede a single inch of ground in negotiations with Israel over the future sovereignty of Jerusalem.

He vowed he would bring any eventual agreement with Israel to a public referendum so that the Palestinian people would be given the chance to decide the course of their national future.

"This is not the time for empty slogans," said Abbas, "it is time to resolve the core issues based on the view of the international community, time to find a solution for Jerusalem, the settlements, the borders and the Palestinian refugees."

President Abbas also claimed on Monday that Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey revealed to him that despite Israel's stated policy that it would not speak to Hamas, representatives from both parties met for clandestine talks in Switzerland.

The negotiations, held under the banner of 'The Switzerland Accords,' proposed the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders in exchange for a 15-year ceasefire. "They spoke of a temporary state, but this is unacceptable," he said.