(Adnkronos) – Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani praised “courageous” Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s Nobel peace prize on Friday saying US president Donald Trump could win the award next for his key role in this week’s Israel-Gaza ceasefire and hostage release accord.
‘The (Nobel prize) decision was made before the ceasefire was announced. Machado is a courageous woman who has fought for freedom and democracy in her country, Tajani said
“So I think it’s right that she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” Tajani added, speaking on the sidelines of an event held by his conservative Forza Italia party in Rome.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he deserves the top award, “has the credentials to win the Nobel Peace Prize next time,” Tajani said.
“He (Trump) has achieved a goal he set himself, namely a ceasefire, and therefore an end to the war after more than 700 days of fighting between Israel and Hamas, an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people and Israeli hostages, which is an historic event,” Tajani continued.
“So, regardless of how one judges Trump, with the achievement of the (Israel-Hamas) truce and now, I hope, peace, he has the credentials to win the Nobel Prize next time,” Tajani stated.
“It will be up to the (Nobel) committee to decide, but the result he (Trump) has achieved is indisputable, regardless of whether one is centrist, right-wing or left-wing,” Tajani underlined.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to the first phase of Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza, a ceasefire and hostage deal that could pave the way to ending the devastating two-year-old war that has destabilised the Middle East.
For lasting peace in the Middle East, many thorny issues will need to be resolved in negotiations on the successive phases of Trump’s plan, however, including the disarmament of Hamas, Gaza’s future governance and a possible Palestinian state, observers say.
