Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad today said he has submitted his resignation to President Mahmoud Abbas.

Sources said Fayyad made the decision in order to pave the way for reconciliation ahead of talks between the Islamic Hamas movement and Abbas' secular Fatah due in Cairo March 10.

"This resignation will take effect following the formation of a national unity government by the end of this month," the statement from his office said.

Fayyad, a politically independent former World Bank economist, was appointed prime minister following the Hamas movement's bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, which cleaved the Palestinians into two hostile camps.