As Israeli politicians begin to try to build a coalition government, after an election that saw no clear winner, response from politicians in surrounding Arab countries has been muted or non-existent.

This may be because, for the time being anyway, it remains unclear as to whether the new Israeli government will continue with "business as usual" under incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or whether a new government headed by Netanyahu's opponents will take what is expected to be a more moderate domestic course.

Whatever the eventual outcome, the consensus is that there is unlikely to be a huge change in Israel's foreign relations with neighboring countries like Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and, further afield, the Gulf states. Nor is it likely to produce very different policies toward Palestinians, which many Arab populations in the region feel strongly about.

Netanyahu opponent Gadi Eisenkot (pictured), head of the Yashar party, appears to have achieved 16% of the vote.…