Donald Trump set to discover whether he's landed Nobel prize

Donald Trump faces a defining week, the culmination of which could cement his place in history. Indirect talks between Israel and Palestine, brought to the table by the US President, resume in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, today in the hope of ending the war and achieving lasting peace in Gaza.

Israel has agreed to President Trump's 20-point pathway and Hamas has accepted some, but not all, of it. However, it is the nearest the two sides have come to a deal. Today marks exactly two years since the October 7 atrocity where the Palestinian militant group slaughtered 1,200. And President Trump wants a deal thrashed out by the end of the week - the day the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is announced.

President Trump was nominated by US Congresswoman Claudia Tenney in December for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.

The nomination deadline for this year's prize was January 31. President Trump was put forward after this date by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Pakistan, and Cambodia.

He says he deserves to enter the pantheon of Nobel laureates, a who’s who of some of the world’s greatest minds and most recognisable names including Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa, for “ending seven wars” - eight by his counting if he succeeds in stopping Israel’s two-year-long bombardment of Gaza.

President Trump has long coveted the Nobel Peace Prize, one of five established in the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel.

Since 1901 it has been awarded annually to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations”.

And it remains a source of anger that former US President Barack Obama won the award in 2009, just one year into his first term in the White House, with the current occupant saying he didn't know "what the hell he got it for."

The peace prize is set to be awarded on Friday and at his recent appearance before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Trump said "everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize".

But he reckons his chances of winning the most coveted prize in humanity are slim, saying: “No matter what I do, they won't give it.” He added: “I'm not politicking for it (but) I have a lot of people that are.”

Not all nominations are accepted and if candidates do not meet the spirit of the prize, the committee blackballs them.

Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter are past winners of an award given for efforts to advance human rights and promote peace.

This year, only one laureate or organisation will receive the peace prize from 338 nominees. The highly secretive Nobel Committee does not confirm the list of nominees and keeps names anonymous for 50 years after the ceremony, but 244 are individuals, and 94 are organisations.

President Trump was first nominated in 2019 when he boasted Japan's then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put him forward after his 2018 summit with North Korean despot Kim Jong Un to discuss the rogue state's nuclear weapons programme.

He said Mr Abe had given him "the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize".

He claimed Mr Abe told him: "I have nominated you," to which President Trump replied: "Thank you. Many other people feel that way too. I'll probably never get it. But that's okay."