Donald Trump who received three Nobel Peace Prize nominations for the 2020 award has brokered another peace deal between Sudan and Israel normalizing ties between the nations and declaring that there ‘would be many more peace deals to come in the Middle East.’
Reporters joined Trump in the Oval Office as he discussed the deal with the leaders of Sudan and Israel. They were privy to the interactions between the leaders including Trump’s reference to his Political opponent Joe Biden.. ‘Do you think ‘Sleepy Joe’ (Trump’s pet name for the Democratic leader) could have made this deal? Somehow I don’t think so,’ Israeli Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu carefully answered: ‘Well, Mr President, one thing I can tell you is um, uh we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America.’ The move is clearly seen as a well timed foreign policy victory for Trump preceding the November 3rd election.
Sudan had previously been Israel’s enemy since 1948. It went to wars against Israel both in 1948 and 1967 and provided a safe sanctum for Palestinian guerilla groups. Fridays deal, which would strengthen Sudan’s interaction with the West, follows the conditional agreement Trump organised to remove the North African nation from the list of state sponsors of terrorism in return for compensation paid to American victims of terror attacks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that victims of terror would receive 335 million in compensation from Sudan specifically for those affected by the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania by the al-Qaeda network while its leader, Osama Bin Laden was living in Sudan. Trump confirmed that once these funds were transferred, he would remove Sudan from the list. The growing numbers of Arab countries forging relations with Israel has been denounced by the Palestinians, who view it as a betrayal of their causes. As Mr Netanyahu declared the agreement as a ‘dramatic breakthrough for peace’ as well as the start of ‘a new era.’ it was simultaneously being denounced as a ‘political sin’ by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who said that he rejected the new deal saying that no one has the authority to speak on behalf of the Palestinians.
The latest deal between Sudan and Israel follows after the two Gulf states the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain became the first countries in the Middle East to acknowledge Israel in 26 years. On hearing of the latest peace deal, the UAE’s foreign ministry embraced Sudan’s decision saying it was ‘an important step to boost security and prosperity in the region.’ Trump has stated that, ‘at least five more’ of the Arab states including Saudi Arabia are currently also in the process of considering normalising relations with Israel. Judd Deere an aide of Trump’s, described the Sudan peace deal as ‘another major step toward building peace in the Middle East with another nation joining the Abraham Accords.’ The Abraham Accords being the name used for the previous deals signed with the UAE and Bahrain.
Christian Tybring-Gjedde who was the first to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize had previously praised the president for his decision to withdraw 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. The last president to avoid doing so was Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter.’ he wrote. Joe Biden also received a Nobel Peace Prize nomination from Chris Bryant who justified his reasons by stating: ‘When others have resorted to violent solutions, he argued that the best force is the force of argument…Because guns can stop a heart but well-placed words can change many hearts, and many hearts can change the world.’
In the end neither Trump nor Biden were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize which went to the World Food Programme (WFP) ‘for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.’