Mushir al-Masri, a Gaza-based Hamas spokesman, praised the prisoners' effort but refused to commit to the agreement.

"It could be a good base for a national platform and a national dialogue, but it still needs more discussion," he said Thursday.

Abbas said he backs the draft, which also authorizes him to lead peace talks with Israel based on what is referred to as "Arab legitimacy," an apparent reference to an Arab peace initiative that calls for a two-state solution. "This document is very important," Abbas said. "It includes a deep and realistic political vision that to a very large extent represents my point of view ... and thus I adopt it."

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he is ready to withdraw from much of the West Bank to make way for an independent Palestinian state, but he plans to keep large blocs of West Bank settlements and holy sites in east Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev declined to comment on the accord, calling it an internal Palestinian matter.

The draft agreement does not renounce violence, saying Palestinians should "focus their resistance on the lands occupied in 1967."

Hamas has largely observed a truce since February 2005 but has refused to formally renounce violence. Barghouti has supported continued shooting and bombing attacks against Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza, while Abbas opposes all violence.

The prison negotiations were also aimed at ending rising tension between Hamas and Fatah, who are vying for control of the government. The rivalry erupted into violence in Gaza this week, killing three people and wounding more than a dozen others, including five on Thursday.

Hamas and Fatah are to hold crucial talks in two weeks to try to settle their differences, and the draft, which calls for Fatah to join the Hamas government, could be part of the negotiations.