Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has urged Israel not to release jailed Hamas legislators as part of a deal to free an Israeli soldier held in Gaza Strip, the Ha'aretz daily reported Wednesday.

According to the Israeli newspaper, Abbas even threatened to dismantle the Palestinian Authority (PA) if Israel did release them. It said the threat was delivered to the head of the Israeli army's central command by senior Abbas aide Hussein al-Sheikh. The daily gave no source.

Hamas and Abbas' Fatah organization have been at loggerheads since the former triumphed in the January 2006 Palestinian legislative elections. Since then, they have been fighting, often literally, for the political control over the Palestinian areas.

The tensions between the two movements boiled over in June 2007, when Hamas militants routed security forces loyal to Abbas in the Gaza Strip and seized sole control of the enclave.

Abbas responded by dismantling the Hamas-Fatah unity government and dismissing Hamas leader Ismail Haniya from his post of prime minister.

Israel arrested dozens of Hamas legislators and ministers after three militant movements, led by Hamas, snatched Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid launched from the Gaza Strip on June 25, 2006.

Shalit is currently being held by Hamas in the salient, and the Islamist movement is demanding the release of 1,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails, in return for setting him free.

The Hamas demand includes 450 specific names, but Israel has approved freeing only 70 of them.

The Israeli daily said Abbas fears the release of senior Hamas officials in exchange for Shalit would strengthen the Islamic organization in the West Bank, currently dominated by Fatah.