Well one thing he has done is bring two conflicting sides to a rare accord

"Nothing has changed in the Obama administration's policies from previous U.S. governments, except statements, promises and hopes," said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, the Palestinian faction that runs the Gaza Strip.

For Efraim Inbar, a politics professor at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, the prize shows that "the Nobel judges are unable to distinguish between words and deeds.


The deadline for nominations for the prize, which includes $1.4 million in cash, was Feb. 1 - before he launched initiatives on nuclear non-proliferation and rebuilding U.S. ties to the Muslim world.