Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday announced that he and the UAE’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed have been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to honour their work towards normalising relations between their nations.
The nomination was put forth by Nobel Laureate David Trimble, the former First Minister of Northern Ireland, who was awarded the Peace Prize for his contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process. “Pursuant to the rules of the Nobel Prize Committee, since Lord Trimble is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, his decision to submit Prime Minister Netanyahu's candidacy will lead the committee to discuss the issue,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The UAE-Israeli deal, reached in October, was followed by a similar agreement between Israel and Bahrain. Though most Arab states have historically refused to establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in solidarity with the Palestinians, several leaders have increasingly sought a united front with Israel against their mutual enemy, Iran—a narrative that the Trump administration has heavily pushed. Israel now has five Arab states that recognize it: Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan.
However, the announcement has been met with criticism, with many on social media calling the nominations a mockery, citing human rights abuses and allegations of war crimes against the potential recipients. Though Israel claims to have suspended its plans to annex parts of the contested West Bank territory in exchange for normalisation deals, it continues to expand its illegal settlements in the occupied area, and engage in massive demolitions of Palestinian homes in the region, which the UN has classified as a “grave breach” of international law.
The UAE, too, has a poor human rights record, with international organizations accusing the country of engaging in systematic practices of arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance against critics and activists. Abu Dhabi’s support for the Saudi-led coalition’s war in Yemen and its backing of Gen. Khalifa Haftar in Libya has also been severely criticised.
Former awardees include Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed, both of whose governments have been accused of human rights violations. Former US President Barack Obama, is also a former recipient of the award, despite his administration presiding over a record number of deportations across the southern border and significantly expanding the US’ use of drone strikes, killing at least hundreds of civilians in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, to name but a few countries that bore the brunt of his aggressive foreign policy moves. Another controversial nominee is the current US President, Donald Trump, whose name was put forth by Norwegian politician Christian Tybring-Gjedde, for his role in brokering the UAE-Israel agreement, despite his barrage of racist and xenophobic rhetoric.
The winner(s) of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in October next year. Deliberations over determining the victors are mostly secret, and the decision is taken by a five-member committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament.
If Netanyahu wins, he would be the fourth Israeli recipient of the prestigious award. In 1978, then-PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat were given the prize for signing the Israeli-Egypt peace deal, which was formalized in 1979. In 1994, the award was jointly given to then-Israeli-PM Yitzhak Rabin, foreign minister Shimon Peres, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman Yasser Arafat for the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Israel’s Netanyahu and UAE Crown Prince Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
However, given Israel’s recent actions in the West Bank and the UAE’s involvement in Yemen, the announcement has been met with criticism.
November 26, 2020
SOURCE: WASHINGTON DAILY REPORT