Donald Trump's Mideast peace deals present the Nobel committee with a Benjamin Netanyahu dilemma
"The Peace Prize is for peace, not for being a nice guy. Netanyahu brought peace," says one of the Israeli prime minister's supporters. Others-including the Palestinians-don't see it that way.
Seated in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed a token that President Donald Trump told him was "a key to our country and to our hearts."
A year from now, could Netanyahu receive the most prestigious gift of all: a Nobel Peace Prize? Israel's longest-serving leader was in Washington D.C. to sign two historic agreements that, with the Trump administration's support, he has forged in the past weeks with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
By the time the Nobel Committee makes its choices next Fall, it's possible that Israel may have achieved a deal with Saudi Arabia as well.
The inconceivable may become the almost-inevitable. Such an achievement surely warrants the Prize-until you remember that Netanyahu is widely loathed, and in critics' eyes leads the controversial government of a country that remains a target of global opprobrium for colonialism, military occupation and alleged human-rights abuses.
And that the agreements that Netanyahu has wrangled with Arab states of the Persian Gulf fail to resolve, or even address, the situation of Palestinians-a cause with passionate supporters in Europe, on U.S. college campuses and with many U.S. liberals.
What's a Nobel Committee to do?
Just last month, Netanyahu announced concurrently with fellow leaders a deal to normalize ties between Israel and the UAE, one of all but two Arab nations that have refused to recognize Israel since its 1948 establishment and its subsequent war with a coalition of Arab countries supportive of an overlapping Palestinian state. The second U.S.-brokered deal, with Bahrain, followed weeks later.
The back-to-back agreements signify Israel's first new ties to the region in a quarter-century. Bypassing the protests of Palestinians who have enjoyed Arab support-at least nominally-since the 1948 war, the prime minister known both affectionately and derisively as "Bibi" made clear during the signing ceremony that he was fashioning himself as a new kind of peacemaker.
A year from now, could Netanyahu receive the most prestigious gift of all: a Nobel Peace Prize? Israel's longest-serving leader was in Washington D.C. to sign two historic agreements that, with the Trump administration's support, he has forged in the past weeks with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
By the time the Nobel Committee makes its choices next Fall, it's possible that Israel may have achieved a deal with Saudi Arabia as well.
The inconceivable may become the almost-inevitable. Such an achievement surely warrants the Prize-until you remember that Netanyahu is widely loathed, and in critics' eyes leads the controversial government of a country that remains a target of global opprobrium for colonialism, military occupation and alleged human-rights abuses.
And that the agreements that Netanyahu has wrangled with Arab states of the Persian Gulf fail to resolve, or even address, the situation of Palestinians-a cause with passionate supporters in Europe, on U.S. college campuses and with many U.S. liberals.
What's a Nobel Committee to do?
Just last month, Netanyahu announced concurrently with fellow leaders a deal to normalize ties between Israel and the UAE, one of all but two Arab nations that have refused to recognize Israel since its 1948 establishment and its subsequent war with a coalition of Arab countries supportive of an overlapping Palestinian state. The second U.S.-brokered deal, with Bahrain, followed weeks later.
The back-to-back agreements signify Israel's first new ties to the region in a quarter-century. Bypassing the protests of Palestinians who have enjoyed Arab support-at least nominally-since the 1948 war, the prime minister known both affectionately and derisively as "Bibi" made clear during the signing ceremony that he was fashioning himself as a new kind of peacemaker.
