Obama choice dims hopes in Middle East for change

BEIRUT-President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state gladdens Israel, but does not overjoy Arabs and Iranians keen for a new start after eight years of perceived U.S. policy calamities.Obama named Clinton for the post when he announced his national security team in Chicago on Monday.Clinton talked tougher than Obama when they were vying to be Democratic presidential candidate, decrying her rival's "naive" call for direct talks with foes such as Iran, Syria and North Korea and vowing to "obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert congratulated Clinton on her appointment."Senator Clinton is a friend of Israel and the Jewish people and I am sure that in her new role she will continue to further the special relations between our two countries," he said.Israeli political scientist Shmuel Sandler, at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv voiced similar satisfaction. "As far as Israel is concerned, this is a good appointment."Israelis are warier about Obama's pick as national security adviser, retired Marine General James Jones, whom many Israeli security officials saw as particularly critical of their policies in the occupied West Bank.Palestinians, who saw U.S. policy tilt even further toward Israel under outgoing President George W. Bush, acknowledged the future secretary of state's grasp of the issues that her husband Bill Clinton grappled with during two terms in the White House."We should not be starting from scratch with her," said Nimer Hammad, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We can only judge her after she is in the job."Obama and Clinton are inheriting a distinctly gloomy outlook for progress toward settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Washington's Arab allies are not expecting a new dawn."Anyone would be better than the last administration," said Egyptian political analyst Diaa Rashwan. "But I don't think there will be real change in the Middle East."He said Obama's entourage contained many pro-Israeli politicians and analysts. Any major policy shift would focus on Iraq and perhaps Iran, not the Israeli-Palestinian dispute."Obama will try to make a big change in Iraq," Rashwan said, alluding to the next president's promise to withdraw troops within 16 months of taking office on January 20. "He can't make two big changes in the same area...It would be suicide."
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4B05FM20081201
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