This is possible. Tested with iOS5 stand-alone web app:

HTML:

<div id=foz data-href=http://www.google.fi>Google</div>

JavaScript:

document.getElementById(foz).addEventListener(click, function(evt) {

    var a = document.createElement('a');

    a.setAttribute(href, this.getAttribute(data-href));

    a.setAttribute(target, _blank);



    var dispatch = document.createEvent(HTMLEvents);

    dispatch.initEvent(click, true, true);

    a.dispatchEvent(dispatch);

}, false);

Can be tested here: http://www.hakoniemi.net/labs/linkkitesti.html