Washington — The chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee cited President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world and his push for Israeli-Arab peace in explaining its decision to award him the prize.
“One of the first things he did was to go to Cairo to try to reach out to the Muslim world, then to restart the Mideast negotiations and then he reached out to the rest of the world through international institutions,” Thorbjorn Jagland said in Oslo on Friday after announcing that Obama had won the prize.
Obama was a surprise pick; he is just nine months into his presidency and has yet to achieve a major international agreement. Jagland said the committee wanted to “enhance” Obama’s efforts.
The formal citation notes Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” and his “vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”
In a speech at the White House, Obama said he would accept the award as a “call to action” in many areas, including pursuing Middle East peace.
We must all do our part to resolve those conflicts that have caused so much pain and hardship over so many years, and that effort must include an unwavering commitment that finally realizes that the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in nations of their own,” said Obama.
A number of Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, congratulated the president, reported Haaretz.
“You have already inspired so many people around the world, and I know that this award also expresses the hope that your Presidency will usher in a new era of peace and reconciliation,” said Netanyahu.
But Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin said the award was “strange” and worried that Obama could pressure Israel into a peace agreement now that he had won the prize.
A number of pro-Israel groups have praised the choice of Obama, including Americvans for Peace Now, J Street, Brit Tzedek v’Shalom and the National Jewish Democratic Council.
“President Obama deserves recognition and praise for making Middle East peace a top U.S. foreign policy priority from his first moments in the Oval Office,” Ori Nir, the spokesman, in a statement released before dawn Friday. “We hope that winning the prestigious prize will further energize the President and his aides to push for peace between Israel and her neighbors.”
President Obama will receive the $1.4 million prize in Oslo on Dec. 10.
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The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barak Obama was, among other things, an expression of the committee's dire vision of the future of the world and the need to push things forward. The fact that Barak Obama has yet to "do" much is obvious yet the fact that he has entered the world into a different discursive environment is important none the less. Regarding Israel-Palestine, for instance, he has expressed, at least in his speech, little tolerance for ongoing settlements and for that matter for the Occupation in and of itself. His embracing a new level of discourse and respect for Muslims in the world is something that the United States has not genuinely displayed up to now. He has expressed little tolerance for human rights violations and violators from China to Iran and to his own corner of the world yet, it is clear that more must be done.
He must now act to bring the Israeli Occupation to an end. To exert real pressure on Israel to stop building settlements and taking over Palestinian land in the OPT (west Bank, East Jerusalem). He must exert a no tolerance policy on violations of human rights and war crimes - both for the US and others. He must speak out against fascism, religious fanaticism, of every kind,Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Christian...even and especially of the kind that guides much of the right wing in the United States. In the US it is time to bring the Death Penalty to an end, Federally and in each and every State - IMMEDIATELY! Gender justice and real justice based on a progressive-feminist vision, policy and praxis in the schools, in the communities and in the world is what we need and we need it now.
Many in the US, both on the left and the right, in the US and elsewhere are incredulous at his being the laureate this year yet it is clear from much of the Media in the US, Fox for example that while the President sees himself as part of the world too many in the US fail to have been invested in such a vision and practice. The awarding of the prize to President Obama at this time is a call by the Committee for change, progress and a vision, a discourse and action that will lead to human rights and to peace.
As for the monetary award... a donation to any university peace education program will be very good idea.
Louis Frankenthaler Jerusalem
A step in the right direction.