Cairo - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak on Tuesday urged his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas not to step down, saying Egypt "fully supports" the Palestinian president, Mubarak's spokesman said.

"President Mubarak called on the Palestinian leader to continue his national endeavours, assuring Abbas that the Palestinian arena is still in dire need of his role and efforts for his people and their just cause," Mubarak's spokesman, Suleiman Awad, said after Mubarak and Abbas met in Cairo.

"The president also reaffirmed Egypt's full support for Abbas as the elected president chosen and supported by the Palestinian people," Awad said in a statement carried by Egypt's official MENA news agency.

Abbas earlier this month said that he would not contest elections he had initially scheduled for January 24 because he had failed to stop Israel from continuing construction in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.

The Egyptian and Palestinian presidents discussed the status of Egyptian-brokered negotiations aimed at producing a unified Palestinian government, MENA reported.

Last month, Abbas blamed Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, for "putting obstacles in the path of the reconciliation."

Abbas' Fatah faction, which controls Palestinian-administered territories of the West Bank, unilaterally signed an Egyptian compromise plan to end Fatah's two-year-old split with Hamas.

Hamas has asked for more time to consider signing the reconciliation agreement.

Among the sticking points is the conduct and timing of fresh presidential and parliamentary elections.

Abbas subsequently said he would decree that elections be held in January, though in recent statements he has appeared to back off that date.

Abbas accused Hamas of not wanting fresh elections, saying the group feared the results might reverse its victory in the last elections.

Hamas says it does not believe new elections will be fair. In the last elections, in 2006, Hamas took 74 seats in the parliament, to Fatah's 45. An additional four seats went to independents affiliated with Hamas.

In 2006, half the 132 seats in the legislature were awarded by a direct vote by district. Of those, Hamas won 45, to Fatah's 17. An additional four went to independents affiliated with Hamas.

But Fatah fared better in the vote on national, "Homeland Lists," winning 28 seats to Hamas' 29, with the remainder going to smaller parties.

In the new election, Hamas has sought to make at least 40 per cent of seats elected by a direct, district vote, whereas Fatah and Egypt have sought to make a larger proportion elected by a national "Homeland List" vote.

A reconciliation agreement might pave the way for a lifting of the blockade of the Gaza Strip, imposed in 2007 after Hamas forcibly took control of security in the enclave from security forces loyal to Fatah. (dpa)