The European Union has said it will study an agreement to form a national unity government between the two main rival Palestinian factions which, it is hoped, will end recent fighting in Gaza.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said the details would be examined in a positive but cautious manner.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern welcomed the deal which was reached in Saudi Arabia between President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party and the ruling Hamas group.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said the international community should support the creation of a new government.
There has been a cautious reaction from Israel and the United States to the announcement of the agreement.
Officially, the US is treating Hamas as a terrorist organisation and has refused to deal with it unless it renounces violence, recognises Israel and abides by previous agreements.
Earlier, Mahmoud Abbas called for the new national unity government to respect previous accords.
The first task of this new administration is to convince Palestinians that its existence will improve things and so prevent a repeat, or a worsening, of the violent clashes between the two sides in which scores of people died in the last few weeks.
Apart from restoring order, the new administration has to decide how to best use the resources available to provide basic services to an increasingly desperate Palestinian population.
But it also needs help from outside and that will only come if the administration's new political message is softened sufficiently to convince the EU, the UN, the US and, most importantly, the Israelis to loosen the boycott they have had in place for the past year.
