Trump awards top mandarins for facilitating 'Abraham Accord'
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Washington: The outgoing US President Donald Trump has awarded several of his top aides National Security Medals in recognition of their roles in facilitating Abraham Accords, the normalisation deal between Israel and a few Arab countries.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Chief Adviser Jared Kushner, Middle East Envoy Avi Berkowitz, US envoy to Israel David Friedman and envoy to UAE John Rakolta.
"Thanks to the efforts of these individuals, the region will never be the same as it finally moves beyond the conflicts of the past," the White House said in a statement.
Over the past four months, Israel has signed agreements with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco withing the framework of what the United States describes as the "Abraham Accord."
The Reuters reported that the Trump administration is likely to strike another deal before his term expires on January 20.
In a related development, the White House issued a new list of 26 people included in the presidential pardon and of 3 people whose sentences were commuted.
Trump pardoned more aides, including his advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner's father, to join a long list of figures included in the US president's pardon during the last days of his term.
The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan had signed in a normalisation deal with Israel.
The Palestinian organisations have condemned the deal and said that it betrays the whole Muslim community across the globe.