US President Donald Trump has received a second nomination for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for helping secure a deal to normalize economic relations between Serbia and Kosovo, Fox News reported on Saturday night.The deal included Kosovo’s recognition of Israel, and Serbia’s agreement to move its embassy to Jerusalem.Magnus Jacobsson, a member of the Swedish Parliament, submitted the nominations. He announced on Friday that he was nominating the Trump administration along with Serbia and Kosovo “for their joint work for peace and economic development, through the cooperation agreement signed in the White House,” adding that “trade and communications are important building blocks for peace.”“It took decades because you didn’t have anybody trying to get it done,” Trump said in the Oval Office, surrounded by Serbia President Aleksander Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.The Serbian president praised Trump and said he had done a “great job,” while Kosovo’s leader commended Trump’s “commitment to peace.”
Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, with US assistance, following a genocidal war led by then-Serbian President Slobodan Milošević which killed 10,000 Muslim ethnic Albanians.In Washington, Serbian President told reporters there were still many differences between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, but said Friday’s agreement marked a huge step forward.Trump also linked peace-making between Serbia and Kosovo, with his efforts to normalize ties between Israel and its Arab neighbors.“We’ve also made additional progress on reaching peace in the Middle East. I will say that Kosovo and Israel have agreed to normalization of ties and the establishment of diplomatic relations. The agreement we made with UAE [and Israel] has been incredible,” Trump said.He added: “We have other countries in the Middle East coming very much to us and saying, like, “When do we go? When can we sign?” I think we’re going to have great peace in the Middle East. And nobody has been able to say that for a long time,” he said.
This second nomination occurred only three days after he was nominated for his major role in reaching the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, and he may be expecting a third after announcing another breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, with Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain establishing diplomatic ties. The winner of the Peace Prize for 2021 as selected by a panel of five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is appointed by the parliament of Norway, will not be announced until October 2022. Last year, Trump said he deserved to be awarded the Peace Prize for his work on North Korea and Syria, but he said he probably would never get the honor.The Nobel Peace Prize is one of six Nobel Prize categories, alongside physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and economics.The prize is awarded on December 10 every year, and the winner is announced on October 9. Thousands of people are eligible to nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize, including members of parliaments and governments, university professors and past laureates.
Tamar Beeri and Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this article.
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