RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected on Monday to urge Hamas to agree to early elections, cede control of the Gaza Strip and hold talks with his Fatah faction, a Palestinian official said.

The official said Abbas was expected to revive the possibility of early Palestinian elections in a speech later on Monday to mark the anniversary of the founding of Fatah.
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June, prompting Abbas to sack a Hamas-led unity government and appoint a Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank.
Abbas said after Hamas’s Gaza takeover he wanted to call early elections, but has not set a date. It has been several months since he last talked publicly about holding a ballot.
Hamas, which won a Palestinian parliamentary vote in 2006, opposes early elections, saying they are unconstitutional. Elections are not due until 2010.
Abbas is expected to say on Monday that any election should be held in agreement with Hamas, and to reiterate a call for Hamas to give up control of Gaza so it can hold reconciliation talks with Fatah, the official said.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum repeated that the Islamist group was ready for dialogue with Fatah but would not accept Abbas’s demand it first give up control of the coastal enclave.
“Abbas is betting on the American-Zionist project and not on dialogue with Hamas,” Barhoum told a news conference in Gaza. “We renew our readiness and willingness to restore dialogue with Fatah without conditions.”
Abbas launched peace talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at a U.S.-hosted peace conference last month and agreed to aim for a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of 2008.
The talks have been marred by friction over Israeli plans to build homes on occupied land, and Hamas’s control of Gaza could also complicate any deal. Abbas is expected to say on Monday that creating a Palestinian state will be impossible without a halt to settlement activity.
Hamas has shunned Abbas’s peace drive, refusing to renounce violence and recognize Israel. The Jewish state has warned Abbas that any dialogue with Hamas could torpedo the “peace process”.