Obama choice dims hopes in Middle East for change

By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent - Analysis

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S. 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 towards 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.