By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, were nominated on Sunday for the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in negotiating four normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations known as the “Abraham Accords.”
Nominating the pair of former deputies to then-President Donald Trump was American attorney Alan Dershowitz, who was eligible to do so in his capacity as a professor emeritus of Harvard Law School.
Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, and Berkowitz, who was the Middle East envoy, were key figures in negotiating deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
The deals were announced in a four-month span between mid-August and mid-December and were the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East in 25 years as the region girds for a prolonged confrontation with Iran.
Kushner said in a statement he was honored to be nominated for the prize, which will be awarded in October.
President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to review all national security deals reached during the Trump administration, including arms packages for the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
There have been some complaints from lawmakers about the Morocco deal because to get Morocco to agree to it, the United States recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region.
Trump left office Jan. 20 under a cloud of controversy, potentially impacting whether the pair of aides would be awarded the Nobel.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
