(Adds Abbas comments, paragraph 5)

By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday he was not sure he would be able to reach a deal with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on statehood principles before a U.S.-sponsored conference in November.

Olmert made the comments after some members of his centrist Kadima party called for a fuller accounting of his talks with Abbas and cautioned against raising expectations they believe may not be achievable.

"I have been holding meetings with Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen (Abbas) and I hope that in the near future this will lead to a ... joint declaration," Olmert told reporters. "If we can achieve a draft by November, we will achieve it, but I am not sure we will be able to do that."

Olmert seeks agreement on a broadbrush "declaration of principles" whereas Abbas wants a more explicit "framework agreement" with a timeline for implementation on the core issues of borders, Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

"A genuine project for peace should be presented to this conference so it can serve as a basis for negotiations and reach towards a final settlement," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Olmert will meet with international envoy Tony Blair in Jerusalem on Tuesday. He will also meet this week with Assistant U.S. Secretary of State David Welch, diplomats said.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Olmert and Abbas planned to meet "in the next few days" to try to narrow their differences.

A dearth of details about their private talks have stirred speculation in Israel that Olmert plans to boost Abbas through sweeping diplomatic "concessions" such as a pledge to delineate a future Palestinian state.

UNCERTAINTY

Olmert said a document has yet to be agreed with Abbas. If an agreement is reached, "I am certain I will win support both in my party and from the people of Israel," he said.

The United States has yet to spell out what it hopes to achieve at the conference, which is expected to take place in the Washington, D.C., area in mid-to-late November.

"We cannot allow it to fail," Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, told a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

During his visit, Welch intends to "sound out the parties" about what they would be prepared to do to reach a deal on principles, a senior Israeli official said.

U.S. and Israeli officials have sought to play down the Bush administration's direct role in crafting such an agreement. "He is not bringing any documents," the official said of Welch.

An aide to Blair said ahead of his visit: "He's coming very much to listen, to hear more of the details and to organise his thinking." Blair's visit is expected to last through Sept 14.

Doubts have been raised over the ability of Abbas and Olmert to deliver on any peace promises.

Abbas's Fatah faction lost control of the Gaza Strip in June to Hamas Islamists shunned by the West. Olmert has been weakened politically by his handling of last year's Lebanon war.

After a rocket fired by Gaza militants landed near an Israeli day care centre, Olmert said the army was instructed to strike at all those involved in the attacks.

Israel appealed to the U.N. Security Council to take action against the rocket fire but did not say how it should do so. (Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah)

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