Abbas praises Obama award as Hamas calls it premature

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas on Friday congratulated Barack Obama on winning the Nobel peace prize, while the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip said the US president did not deserve the award.

Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority and the mainstream Fatah faction, "congratulated President Obama on winning the Nobel Prize," top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

"The president wished that President Obama will achieve his quest for peace throughout the Middle East by establishing an independent Palestinian state in the 1967 borders with its capital in east Jerusalem," he said.

But Islamist movement Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since routing pro-Fatah forces from the narrow coastal strip in June 2007, said the award was premature.

"He did not do anything for the Palestinians except make promises," said Hamas spokesman Samir Abu Zuhri. "At the same time, he is giving his absolute support for the (Israeli) occupation."