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The White House says that Tuesday's general elections signal a strong democracy but until a new prime minister is named, it is unclear what the results mean for peace in the Mideast.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that US President Barack Obama looked forward to working with the next prime minister of Israel.While a few thousand soldiers' and diplomats' votes remain uncounted, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party holds a one-seat advantage over Binyamin Netanyahu's Likud party. The right-wing block, however, has a 65 to 55 majority in the Knesset.Gibbs said Obama remained committed to working with Israel and its new government. Also Wednesday evening, President Shimon Peres gave Obama a crash course in the intricacies of putting together a coalition, when the US president called Peres to congratulate Israel on its elections. According to a statement put out by Peres' office, Obama-who has stayed completely out of the Israeli election campaign - asked Peres about what happens next in the coalition building process.Peres explained the process, emphasizing the differences between the US and Israeli systems. "You only have two parties, while we have 12," Peres said.According to Peres' statement, Obama said that the process seemed complicated, but that he was sure that Israel would benefit from Peres' "experience and wisdom." He also said he was looking forward to meeting Peres in the near future, and that "we are all still on our way to the Promised Land. "Earlier on Wednesday, in one of the first responses from the Obama administration to the emerging results of the elections in Israel, an unnamed official on Wednesday expressed hope that the new Israeli government would pursue negotiations with the Palestinians - even if its prime minister turned out to be Netanyahu."The hope is that there is a government that is really committed to peace with the Palestinians," the senior administration official was quoted by The Washington Post as saying.The official expressed hope that despite Netanyahu's track record with the Clinton administration, he would still play ball with Washington's pledge to take an active role in pursuing Middle East peace. "He's grown over the years," the official said. "Getting back to the talks with the Palestinians is really the only solution."Arabs see little hope for peace from whatever government emerges
By JPOST.COM STAFF
As in the days of Noah...
