On the eve of the swearing-in of the new Israeli government, Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed optimism the next government will achieve peace.
The optimism comes despite the presence in the new coalition of those parties who are traditionally opposed to concessions to Palestinians. His comments appeared aimed a soothing both U.S. and EU concern that the new government will take a hard-line approach to Palestine.
Peres spoke after meeting with Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency.
Peres echoed the sentiments of incoming Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Israel would seek a peace process.
He told reporters he was confident in the new government. He said: "They say 'we shall continue the negotiations with the Palestinians. 'They say 'we shall negotiate with each one of our neighbors. ‘They say 'yes, we would like to develop the regional economic opportunities, and they say also we are going to see what can be done in terms of peace on regional level. And then they are saying that they are going to respect the previous government commitments. So I would think this is a very reasonable and promising beginning."
Peres also suggested economic cooperation between countries should not be linked to politics.
"We have borders that remain political but are not any more economic," he said, adding Israel needed a "coalition with the rest of the world."