(Bloomberg) -- - Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he will call early presidential and legislative elections in a bid to end a political deadlock between himself and the Islamist Hamas party.

``Since the people are the source of authority, we will return to them and let them say their word,'' Abbas said today in a speech to Palestinian officials in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Abbas, however, didn't specify a date for the elections.

Abbas' Fatah party and Hamas have been engaged in a struggle for control of the Palestinian Authority since Hamas won parliamentary elections last January and formed a government in March. The election gave Hamas control of the prime minister's office and the cabinet while Abbas retained the presidency.

``I have decreed the formation of the government, and I can sack it whenever I want to,'' Abbas said in the televised speech.

Hamas spokesman Mahmoud al-Zahar, also the Palestinian Authority's foreign minister, rejected the call for the elections.

``If Abbas is tired of the situation, he should resign instead,'' al-Zahar told reporters in Gaza. ``There will be no early elections, God willing,'' he said.