JERUSALEM (AFP)---Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday voiced hopes Barack Obama will help speed up the slow-moving Middle East peace process once he moves into the White House.
Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed confidence Israel's ties with its strongest ally would remain as strong as ever under an Obama administration.
"Israel and the United States both desire to maintain and strengthen these relations and promote peace and stability in the Middle East," said Olmert, who has stepped down but will remain at the head of a caretaker government until after Israeli elections scheduled for February 10.
In a glowing tribute, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Obama's election heralds change, an opportunity to escape the global economic crisis and "an end of racism."
"For us, America is a great friend and a great hope. We are connected by the Bible and we are together for peace," said Peres, whose post is mainly ceremonial.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a frontrunner to take over from Olmert as Prime Minister, recalled Obama's July visit to Israel, saying it left residents with the feeling that "he is a man who is deeply committed to Israel's security and peace."
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas for his part expressed hope Obama will help "speed up efforts to achieve peace, particularly since a resolution of the Palestinian problem and the Israeli-Arab conflict is key to world peace."
The United States played a key role in reviving peace talks last November, after a seven year hiatus, but little tangible progress has been made since the conference hosted by President George W. Bush in Annapolis, Maryland.
Olmert's resignation over a string of scandals has further affected the peace process and even some cabinet ministers have said the current caretaker government has insufficient powers to take part in negotiations.
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, Livni's leading electoral rival, expressed conviction in a message to Obama that: "We will work together towards peace in our region and a better future for all of us."
Sylvan Shalom, an MP in Netanyahu's Likud party and a former Foreign Minister, pointed out his party had "excellent relations with the Democratic administration of President Bill Clinton -- we pursued the peace process at the time -- and there is no reason there should be no such relations with an Obama administration."
Sallai Meridor, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told Israeli army radio he expects "easy cooperation" with Obama, saying the president-elect has "extraordinary abilities to listen, understand and analyse."
Obama gained strong sympathies in Israel and stirred anger among Palestinians when he proclaimed in June that "Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided."
He later said that the city's status must be agreed in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
"We want (Obama) to support the Palestinian cause or at least not to be biased towards the Israeli occupation," said Fawzi Barhum, a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist movement which has ruled the Gaza Strip since ousting forces loyal to the secular Abbas in June 2007.
"We would have no problem establishing normal relations with the United States to explain our just cause," he said. The United States, like the European Union and Israel, lists Hamas as a terrorist organisation.