George Bush phoned Ehud Olmert, the acting Israeli prime minister, yesterday to invite him to Washington after he forms his coalition government.
Mr Bush congratulated Mr Olmert, who is seeking US support for Israel unilaterally redrawing its border with the Palestinian Authority and a partial withdrawal of Jewish settlements from the West Bank. There was a widespread welcome in Europe for Mr Olmert's success but Arab governments were generally sceptical about whether the election result would make any meaningful difference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Tony Blair, who also phoned Mr Olmert to offer his congratulations, said Mr Olmert's victory ‘changes the shape of Israeli politics’. Britain was careful to avoid accusations of interfering in Israeli internal politics during the election but both Mr Blair and Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, privately favoured Mr Olmert, with whom they have a good relationship, over the more rightwing Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu. Mr Straw said: ‘We will have new governments in place in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority within the coming weeks. I hope that both sides will do all they can to find a permanent solution to the conflict.’
Other European diplomats were hopeful that Mr Olmert's victory might lead to negotiations with Palestinians. But privately there remained a great deal of pessimism about an end to the conflict within the next few years.
Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, told Mr Olmert yesterday he hoped he would revive the dormant peace process. Mr Solana said: ‘I encouraged Mr Olmert to pursue all efforts to move toward a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the Middle East conflict.’ He promised the EU would do all it could to help.
Philippe Douste-Blazy, France's foreign minister, welcomed the result, saying Mr Olmert was ‘a man of unilateral policies ... he has always wanted to recognise the existence of two peoples, two states that live in security and peace one next to the other. This is good news for peace.’
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, said: ‘I welcome the fact that Olmert in his first public comments indicated readiness to restart peace talks.
‘We will do all we can together with our partners to support a peace solution on the basis of the road map,’ the stalled US and European-backed plan for peace.
Arab ministers, meeting at a summit in the Sudanese capital Khartoum yesterday, criticised the unilateralist trend in Israeli politics.
Most predicted Mr Olmert's victory would not mean much change in Israel's approach to the Palestinians, but Egypt and Jordan, which have both signed peace deals with Israel, expressed hope that negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would resume at some stage.
Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, expressed disapproval of any Israeli unilateral action on borders: ‘The Arab world must study all its options. Because it is absolutely out of the question to accept ... unilateral withdrawals according to Israeli whims. This just doesn't work, and it can only worsen the situation.’