In a television interview, Abbas said that if Israel failed to halt settlement building and US-backed peace negotiations broke down, he would press for an end to the limited Palestinian self-rule in occupied territory.

"I cannot accept to remain the president of an authority that doesn't exist," Abbas said, referring to Israel's continued occupation of the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority was established after an interim peace deal with Israel in 1993 gave Palestinians limited autonomy in the West Bank, territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and where Palestinians want to establish a state.

He said that, if Israel would not freeze settlements for three months, as Washington had proposed, he would ask the United States and the United Nations to recognize Palestinian statehood.

If such recognition were not forthcoming, Abbas said he would consider dissolving the Palestinian Authority.