The Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) announced a unity pact on Wednesday, deepening a crisis in U.S.-brokered peace talks with Israel.
The move, coming after a long line of failed efforts to reconcile after seven years of internal bickering, envisions a unity government within five weeks and national elections six months later.
"This is the good news we tell our people: The era of division is over," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said to loud applause at a Palestinian news conference also attended by representatives of the PLO.