Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's government said on Thursday formal negotiations to create a Palestinian state could be completed six months after a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference.

Palestinian Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said the agreement would then be brought before the Palestinian people, both inside the Palestinian territories and abroad, for a referendum.

It is unclear how a referendum would be organized with the Palestinian territories divided between Hamas Islamists ruling the Gaza Strip and Abbas's secular Fatah faction controlling the occupied West Bank.

Briefing reporters one day after Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Jerusalem, Malki said final-status talks would be based on a joint document that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will begin drafting next week.

Malki said the joint document, which will be presented to the conference in mid-to-late November, would deal with final status issues such as borders, the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees but would not go into "the minute details."

He said the details that could be left for later included exactly how much land would be included in a land swap to hold onto large Jewish settlement blocs.