EU cautiously optimistic on Palestinian pact

European Union officials said today they were cautiously optimistic about a Palestinian power-sharing deal reached by Hamas and Fatah political leaders in Saudi Arabia, but said it was too early to lift an international aid embargo against the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Berlin the agreement reached yesterday between the two groups would be studied “very carefully” over the coming days, and that he would discuss it with colleagues in the so-called Quartet of Mideast negotiators – the US, EU, United Nations and Russia.