Barack Obama by PandaDESTROYRobot

It’s always odd when the President of the United States agrees with a member of Hamas.

“Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward,” Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.

It was a view that echoed far off across the Mediterranean, the other side of the Atlantic.

“To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize,” said Barack Obama.

“I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments…”

It was a view replicated across the Middle East.  It’s easy to understand why Gazans struggling to recover from a devastating bombing campaign in December 2008 – January 2009 would find it hard to believe peace had come to their lives.

The same could be said for northern Yemenis, caught in the worst fighting for a decade.  Or Iraqis suffering from an upsurge in sectarian killing.

Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader, questioned the moral authority of the award.

He said: “Obama’s winning the peace prize shows these prizes are political, not governed by the principles of credibility, values and morals.”

It was a point repeated by Jan Egeland, director of the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs on Channel4 news.

He simply said the award is always political.

Which gives the view that perhaps this was not an award for achievements to date, despite the Nobel Committee’s references to “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy” and his “work for a world without nuclear weapons”.

‘Efforts’, ‘vision’ and ‘work’ do not imply achievement. They are words which represent ongoing activities and future plans.

So perhaps this award was a piece of political theatre designed to prod Obama into acting upon his rhetoric.

When we view how hard his Middle East envoy is toiling simply to find ways to have Mahmoud Abbas – who represents only one half of Palestinians at most – sit alongside Benjamin Netanyahu in discussions,  we may rightfully conclude that the realities on the ground in the Middle East remain entrenched in bitterness and fear, if not going backwards.

This is a view common in Norway – which seems to have discovered a way to entertain the world’s attention by offering some kind of mystic insight into the decisions of Nobel Committees.

A foreign commentator on Norwegian TV, Gro Holm, said the committee was trying to pressure Obama to ‘deliver on his promise of greater international peace.’

No doubt in America this will be read as deeply patronising European play, and frankly embarrassing to Obama when he is struggling to do exactly what everyone is expecting – deliver on the grand promises.

It puts him on an even narrower tight rope whereby he has to negotiate a way between being seen as tough at home, and a peace maker abroad.

But in the Middle East, it appears this nuance was overlooked.

The ever provocative Hossam El-Hamalawy summed it up by saying: “The butcher of Iraq and Afghanistan (and Pakistan) has won the Nobel Peace prize. Mabrouk!”

In Iraq, Kurdish blogger Dr Ali al-Rubiay greeted the decision with astonishment: “Would any one please tell me what did the American president do in less than a year to merit the Nobel Peace Prize?! How bizarre!!”

Egyptian blogger and activist, Yasry al-Masry said: “They could have made it more plausible had the Prize been awarded to Mr. Obama in two years or so, to give him some time to get something done so they could come out and lie to us.”

This was a view repeated all day on Twitter.

Representing a wide contingent of Egyptians – the Arabic speaking country which hosted Obama for his famous speech to the Muslim world – blogger Zeinobia said it was all far too soon.

“It is early for him to recieve an award, he didn’t even complete a whole year , there are still four years in his,what has he done?” she said.

The decision was at least welcomed by Alaa Bayoumi of Middle East online: “yes Obama does deserve the prize,not only because we support him,but also because we sympathize with him!

“For the change he made in the American policy in less than one year even if it’s only speeches,still is a major change for a young president who has been the president of the biggest country in the world for only 9 months.”

At this rate, in a four-year term Barack Obama could win the Nobel Peace Prize five times over.  Whether he wins the support of the Americans for his leadership enough to achieve real change on the ground in Palestine, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan remains to be seen.

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