Gaza City  - Palestinian reconciliation negotiators in Cairo signed an agreement to prohibit fighting or the use of weapons to settle internal disputes, a Palestinian academic said Saturday.

The agreement was ratified as rival Palestinian factions continued intense talks to reach an agreement on broader issues such as the formation of a unity government to replace the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip and the Western-backed government in the West Bank formed by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement.

Yasser al-Wadia, the independent academic member of the reconciliation committee, said his committee had made great progress.

The work of the other committees - especially those dealing with the formation of a government and reforms in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) - were facing several obstacles, other officials said. (dpa)