Report: Obama talks to Rice on Gaza

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has spoken to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about this weekend's Israeli air strikes in Gaza, sources say.

Unnamed Obama transition aides told CNN the president-elect initiated the 8-minute call to Rice on Saturday, saying, "He will continue to closely monitor these and other global events."

The air strikes have left at least 225 Palestinians dead in what Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says was a move to end rocket fire by the militant group Hamas into Israel.

Obama has said the Middle East will be a priority for his administration, but some experts cautioned against maintaining overly optimistic expectations of what he will be able to accomplish early in his presidency.

Aaron David Miller, a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, told CNN, "The fact is that unless the Israelis and Palestinians are prepared ... to take the political decisions required to overcome the gaps and to sell an agreement to their respective constituents, there's not much a new president, no matter how bold or charismatic he may be, is going to be able to do about that."