The European Union foreign ministers assessed a power-sharing deal among Palestinian factions Monday but remained silent on the possibility of resuming direct aid, an issue pressed by a senior aide to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The aide, Nabil Amr, met with EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana, who said later he hoped a unity government of Hamas and Fatah could trigger "progress in the Middle East peace process." But officials stressed that a normalization of relations between the Palestinian government and the EU, its biggest aid donor, hinged on a coalition government's commitment to recognize Israel and its existing accords with the Palestinians and abandon violence. The Europeans were grateful to Saudi Arabia for forging an accord that would see the current Hamas-led Cabinet resign to make way for a coalition government with Abass's rival Fatah movement, said German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. "We do hope this agreement will enable us to see an end to the shedding of blood in Palestine," Steinmeier told reporters. "But we do appreciate that this process has not reached an end," he added. "We are looking forward to the formation of a government."