Israeli, Palestinian leaders mostly praise peace prize for Obama

Friday, October 9, 2009

Israeli President Shimon Peres congratulates Obama. A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority says there's hope the Nobel will be an 'incentive' for the president to help end the region's conflict.

Israeli President Shimon Peres -- who shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 -- escorts then-Sen. Barack Obama during the presidential candidate's visit to Jerusalem on July 23, 2008. After Obama was announced as the winner of this year's Peace Prize on Friday, Peres sent a congratulatory message: "There are few leaders who have managed to change the atmosphere in the world in such a short time," he said. (Olivier Fitoussi / European Pressphoto Agency / July 23, 2008)

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By Nasra Ismail of the BBC, reporting for Biodun Iginla, BBC Senior News Analyst, from Jerusalem

October 9, 2009 | 10:15 a.m.

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Reporting from Jerusalem - The choice of President Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize drew mostly praise today from Israel and the West Bank, where the momentum of his peacemaking effort has stalled in recent weeks.

Israeli President Shimon Peres, who shared the peace prize in 1994, sent a congratulatory message emphasizing the initial expectations of the new American president.

"There are few leaders who have managed to change the atmosphere in the world in such a short time," Peres said. "Under your leadership you have begun making peace a key issue on the agenda. . . . I express my confidence that the bells of understanding and dialogue between the nations will start ringing again."

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he hoped the prize "will boost President Obama's ability" as a peacemaker. And a spokesman for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, Ghassan Khatib, said Palestinians hope the prize "will provide an additional incentive" for Obama to work for an end to the decades-old conflict.

Faith in Obama has faded among Israelis and Palestinians since the start of his high-powered diplomatic effort early in his term. Obama appeared to score a gain in July when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dropped his opposition to the goal of an accord that would give Palestinians their own state.

But Israelis soured on his insistence on a halt to Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank, and Palestinians were dismayed when he set aside that demand and began pushing them to resume peace talks. In Washington on Thursday, Israeli Ambassador Michael B. Oren said in a speech that Obama's popularity among Israelis had dropped as low as 4% in some polls, a slump he called "one of the greatest obstacles" to peacemaking.

There were some misgivings on both sides about Obama's prize. In the Gaza Strip, the ruling Hamas movement called it premature.

"Obama has a long way to go and still lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward," said Sami abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman. "Obama made only promises. . . . He has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes."

Reuven Rivlin, speaker of Israel's parliament, said the Nobel committee made a "very strange" choice and said he hoped it would not embolden Obama to "dictate a peace accord to Israel." He added: "Someone who gets a peace prize should not force-feed Israel with his version of peace."
Posted by BiodunIginla at 8:15 PM Labels: bbc news nasra ismail, bbc news. biodun iginla, bbc news. obama administration 0 comments:

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