GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) - Rival Palestinian movements agreed Wednesday to form a unity government within five weeks to end seven years of divided administration, the PLO and the Hamas rulers of Gaza said.

"An agreement has been reached on the formation within five weeks of an independent government headed by president Mahmud Abbas," said the statement, read out by Hamas's Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniya in front of a visiting delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organisation.