Barak celebrates after defeating Netanyahu  ALSO:

May 17, 1999
Web posted at: 8:58 p.m. EDT (0058 GMT)

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton learned of Ehud Barak's victory in Israel's election for prime minister Monday as the president flew back to Washington after a West Coast fund-raising trip.

He called Barak and offered him his "warmest congratulations," according to a statement released by the White House.

Clinton also spoke to outgoing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thanking him for his "dedicated service to Israel."

White House aides said Clinton was elated, seeing a big win for Labor Party leader Barak as the best hope for reviving the stalled Middle East peace process.

"I will continue to work energetically for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace that strengthens Israel's security," Clinton said in a written statement. "I look forward to working closely with Ehud Barak and his new government as they strive to reach that goal with their Palestinian and Arab partners."

Barak is open to more territorial concessions to Palestinians, and in the past has talked of relinquishing the Golan Heights in a peace deal with Syria.

"What people in Washington hope for in a Barak government is more pliancy in the peace process," said Dr. Robert Satloff of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said Barak's military background as the former head of the Israeli army gives him a skill once used well by former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, assassinated in 1995.

"He (Barak) can balance the desire for peace against the requirements for security," Kissinger said. "I think he is in a strong position to bring about a fairly rapid settlement of the Palestinian negotiations."

Clinton worked behind scene

Clinton was publicly neutral in the weeks leading up to the Israeli elections, but it's no secret that he didn't get along well with Netanyahu.

It is also no secret that the United States believes Netanyahu broke his Wye River peace summit promise to give up more land in the West Bank.

"We continue to be dedicated to the implementation of the Wye process, to the resumption of permanent status negotiations, and we want to see a comprehensive peace process go forward," U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said during a news conference Monday with King Abdullah of Jordan.

Three years ago, the president's public support for Labor's Shimon Peres backfired and helped nudge Netanyahu to victory.

White House sources point to private steps they say worked in Barak's favor this time around.

For one, Clinton aggressively lobbied Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to keep silent on May 4, the day when he had vowed to declare an independent Palestinian state.

Arafat said nothing provocative, denying Netanyahu a potential campaign issue.

"At the end of that (peace) process, a Palestinian state was always inevitable," said Kissinger. "What other attribute could the territory that would be left to the Palestinians have?"

"I think that Barak will accept a Palestinian state at the last stage of a settlement," Kissinger predicted, but said it was important that it happened only after a settlement was reached.

White House desires

"A remarkable development over the past year has been that Arafat has been a more welcome person in the White House than the prime minister of Israel," said Satloff. "This is a key change of historic proportions given the relationship of America and Israel -- and America and the PLO over the last century."

Arafat's failing health is one reason the administration is eager to move quickly to test the next Israeli prime minister's commitment to peace.

And from the earliest days of his presidency, Clinton has wanted his legacy to include a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement. After three years of frustration, there is new hope that an accord might be possible.