Peres to Obama: Peace became real agenda under your leadership

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"President Shimon Peres paid tribute Friday to U.S. President Barack Obama, the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, saying that his leadership had meant "peace became a real and original agenda."

Obama was named as the recipient of the prize earlier Friday, for giving the world "hope for a better future" and for striving for nuclear disarmament.

In a letter to Obama, fellow peace prize laureate Peres wrote that, "Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such profound impact."

Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, for their efforts to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak also expressed his support Friday for the Nobel committee's decision to award the prize to Obama, and praised the U.S. president's efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) was less enthusiastic at the Nobel committee's decision, saying that "it's very strange that Obama won."

He added his concern that "it is possible that he might force Israel into a peace deal now that he has won the award."

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Oh my God, that would be just terrible, eh?
:sarcasm:

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"U.S. President Barack Obama expressed surprise on Friday over winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, but said he accepted the honor as a call to action for nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century.

"I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel committee," Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden. "I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."

During the brief address, the U.S. president also reiterated his call for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace."

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