Jerusalem/Ramallah/Gaza City - Israel and Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday welcomed Hillary Clinton's
nomination as the next US secretary of state.
Abbas' staunch rival, the radical Islamic Hamas movement ruling
Gaza, however, said Clinton would display the same pro-Israeli bias
as it charged previous US secretaries of state had in the past.
'We don't count on any foreign policy of the American
administration, especially when dealing with the Middle East and the
Palestinian cause,' Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said, adding
'there is no difference between the successive administrations.'
'We welcome this appointment,' said Saeb Erekat, a top Abbas aide
and Palestinian negotiator.
'Both the (US President George) Bush and (president-elect Barack)
Obama administrations are committed to the two-state solution,'
Erekat told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. 'We hope that Madame
Clinton will continue efforts to achieve the two-state solution.'
Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a statement
overnight congratulating Clinton and calling her a 'friend of the
state of Israel and the Jewish people.'
'I am sure that, in her new position, she will continue to
advance the special Israel-US relationship,' he said.
Palestinian analysts generally expressed disappointment with
Obama's choice, which they said dimmed the high hopes of a fresh
start generated by his election, with one of them describing the
nomination as 'not good news for the Palestinians.'
Clinton 'will remain subject to pressure from the pro-Israel
lobbying groups, particularly in New York, where her constituency
is, who normally lean to the right,' said political analyst Ghassan
Khatib, of Birzeit University near Ramallah, and a former minister
in Palestinian cabinets led by Abbas' Fatah party.
He nevertheless added that she would be subject to White House
policy and 'if there is a change in this policy, then I do not think
the secretary of state can obstruct this change.'
'Under the best conditions, Obama will follow a Middle East
policy similar to Bill Clinton's. But nevertheless, Hillary Clinton
was not the best choice,' he told dpa.
Israeli analysts generally described Clinton, 61, as a 'friend of
Israel' too, but added she was ambitious and driven to succeed, even
more so because, as Bill Clinton's 'heir,' she was likely to want to
complete her husband's agenda of achieving Middle East peace.
As such, Clinton could be strict, sharp and opinionated and
whoever would be Israel's next prime minister after the February 10
elections 'had better listen to her advice and orders,' Israel's
biggest-selling Yediot Ahronot daily wrote.
USA
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