Palestinian vote may not be limited to the w. Bank: Abbas (AFP)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian territories (AFP) – Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said Thursday it would be "unacceptable" planned elections will be held only in the West Bank, with Gazans to left out of opinion polls.

"Presidential and parliamentary elections will take place in the West Bank, in the Gaza Strip and East he said at a news conference with visiting East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta.

"It would be unacceptable for them to be incurred only in the West Bank and not in Gaza. Without that it would not be possible to keep them, "he said, indicating the rejection of Gaza's Hamas rulers to participate could weaken the entire vote.

"Internal division of powers is the greatest danger, as are we, and our first concern is to restore national unity, which is why we have called the presidential and legislative elections, so that people settle this issue".

Last week announced the Palestinian leadership it would hold presidential and parliamentary elections in September. A local elections are also scheduled to take place on 9. July.

But the Islamic movement Hamas, a sworn enemy of Abbass secular Fatah faction, which dominates the Palestinian Authority has rejected calls to elections.

It says Hamas not to participate without a lot of reconciliation between the two warring parties.

"Abbass statement that there would be no elections without Gaza, despite the fact that several days ago, said the elections would take place in any event to prove that they were in a State of confusion," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the movement.

The issue of reconciliation dialogue needed to be fully examined, he said, but the choice "would be the result of any solution and not the cause of a."

Rivalries between Hamas and Fatah dates back to s. The situation deteriorated dramatically after the Islamic movement won the elections in 2006 and a year later, seized control of Gaza after deadly street battles with Fatah.

The Palestinian territories has since been effectively split in two with Abbass rule limited to the West Bank.

Repeated attempts to get the two parties to reconcile their differences have led nowhere, and the Mubarak regime, which played a key role in efforts at reconciliation, is now fast out of the picture.