Donald Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Rebecca Speare-Cole9 September 2020

Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize after helping broker a peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Right-wing Norwegian politician Christian Tybring-Gjedde put the US president forward for a nomination, he revealed on Wednesday.

He told Fox News that it relates to the "historic peace agreement" between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

"For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees," he said.

In his nomination letter, Mr Tybring-Gjedde said the Trump administration played a critical role in the establishment of relations between Israel and the UAE.

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He wrote: “As it is expected other Middle Eastern countries will follow in the footsteps of the UAE, this agreement could be a game changer that will turn the Middle East into a region of cooperation and prosperity."

The politician also said Mr Trump played a “key role in facilitating contact between conflicting parties and… creating new dynamics in other protracted conflicts, such as the Kashmir border dispute between India and Pakistan, and the conflict between North and South Korea, as well as dealing with the nuclear capabilities of North Korea.”

REUTERS

He also praised the president for withdrawing troops from the Middle East.

“Indeed, Trump has broken a 39-year-old streak of American Presidents either starting a war or bringing the United States into an international armed conflict," he wrote. "The last president to avoid doing so was Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter."

A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by anybody who meets the nomination criteria.

A person is eligible to nominate another if they are a members of national assemblies, national governments, a previous prize winner or university professors among others.

In 2020, there were 318 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, of which 211 were individuals and 107 organisations.

This is also not Mr Trump’s first nomination. He was previously nominated in 2018 but did not win.

Mr Tybring-Gjedde put him forward for the prize along with Per-Willy Amundsen - another Progress Party politician.

It came after the president’s Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un.