Praise and skepticism greet Obama Nobel award

LONDON (Reuters) - A surprised world greeted the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama with a mixture of praise and skepticism on Friday.

In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg made clear the award carried big expectations, saying: "This is a surprising, an exciting prize. It remains to be seen if he will succeed with reconciliation, peace and nuclear disarmament."

Afghanistan's Taliban mocked the choice, saying it was absurd to give it to Obama when he had ordered 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan this year.

"The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the 'Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians'," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Japanese President Yukio Hatoyama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both said the prize should encourage everyone to help Obama rid the world of nuclear weapons.

"I think the peace prize was given with such a hope," Hatoyama told reporters on a visit to Beijing.

Merkel said Obama had shifted the tone toward dialogue in a very short time. "There is still much left to do, but a window of possibility has been opened," she said in Leipzig.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised Obama's multilateralism. "His commitment to work through the United Nations gives the world's people fresh hope and fresh prospects," he told reporters.

In the Middle East, chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said the award could be a good omen for the region.

"We hope that he will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East and achieve Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and establish an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital," he told Reuters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Obama had inspired many people. "I look forward to working closely with you in the years ahead to advance peace and to give hope to the peoples of our region who deserve to live in peace, security and dignity," he wrote in an open letter congratulating Obama.

The Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, was more skeptical.

"Unless real and deep-rooted change is made in American policy toward recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people I would think such a prize would be useless," Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip, told reporters after Friday prayers.

REAL CHANGE

In Iraq, the government welcomed the award, saying Obama deserved it because he had led a dialogue with other nations.