"I hope personally that there will be a new president in the United States of America because that's the best interest of the state of Israel," former Israeli Labour Party politician and parliament speaker Avraham Burg said.

"I would like the Democrats to take over and a Democrat administration to pick up at the point where (ex-president Bill) Clinton left the region," he told journalists during a conference in the Swiss village of Caux.

Burg and his Palestinian counterpart on the Geneva Initiative, former information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, called for a revival of US political involvement in the Middle East conflict.

The Geneva founders also rounded on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's announced unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, warning it would be counterproductive without an idea of what follows afterwards.

"The position of the United States was not positive and is not helpful in moving from Gaza to Geneva," Rabbo said, adding that the international community had a key role to play in the conflict at this moment.

"Without a 3rd party guarantee, we will not have an agreement," he added, warning that the Gaza Strip would become an Palestinian isolated pocket.

The Geneva initiative plan unveiled by the group of Israeli and Palestinian politicians and activists in the western Swiss city in December 2003 sets out a detailed model for a two-state solution to the conflict.

It envisages a Palestinian state encompassing virtually all of the West Bank, shared sovereignty over Jerusalem and the de facto renunciation by the Palestinians of the right of return for nearly 3.8 million refugees.

Burg said that "a good president for Israel in the White House is not one who is doing what Israel wants but what Israel needs".

"Part of the problem that we have with the current presidency is that it speaks the same language as some of our political leadership, and therefore eventually Israel is becoming more and more seen... as a mini-America in Middle East," he added.

A European diplomat pointed out that US Secretary of State Colin Powell had given written support to the steps taken by the Geneva authors, and the US was unlikely to take a further stand in the run up to presidential elections.

Twenty-three countries backing the Geneva Initiative -- including Switzerland, France and other European Union countries, but not the US -- are due to meet in Brussels on September 8.

The supporting network is expected to expand to 27 states next month, and eight Arab countries are now backing the venture, a diplomat told AFP.

Rabbo said the main thrust now was to gain backing from Israeli and Palestinian public opinion for the Initiative, which is meant to complement the official road map for peace sponsored by the EU, US, United Nations and Russia.

Although they are preparing to add some detail to the document, the Geneva authors revealed that they were also ready to draw up a political statement on the Gaza withdrawal.

The new document would outline how an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza could be turned into a first step in a wider settlement surrounding the West Bank.

Burg and Rabbo emphasised that it would demonstrate a joint approach contrasting with Sharon's "no-partnership philosophy".

"We cannot have peace when we speak about withdrawal from Gaza while building a wall inside the West Bank and more settlements," Rabbo said.

WAR.WIRE