Sudan agrees to normalize relations with Israel, Trump says
Sudan and Israel have agreed to normalize relations, US President Donald Trump announced on Friday at the White House, a move that was denounced by Palestinians as a “new stab in the back”.
Trump, who is seeking re-election on November 3, sealed the agreement in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Transitional Council Head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, senior US officials said.
“The leaders agreed to the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel and to end the state of belligerence between their nations,” a joint statement issued by the three countries read.
Trump added that he expects the Palestinians and other nations, including Saudi Arabia, to also agree to closer ties with Israel in the coming months.
“This will be the third country where we’re doing this – and we have many, many more coming,” Trump said.
Khartoum is now the third Arab government to normalize relations with Israel in the last two months, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
The UAE welcomed the Israel-Sudan deal, saying it is “an important step to boost security and prosperity in the region”.
Sudan’s acting foreign minister said on Friday, however, the agreement for normalising ties with Israel will depend on approval from its yet-to-be formed legislative council.
“Agreement on normalization with Israel will be decided after completion of the constitutional institutions through the formation of the legislative council,” Omar Gamareldin said on state TV.
Sudan’s yet-to-be-formed council still needs to be established under a power-sharing deal between the military officers and civilians, who have been running Sudan jointly since the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir in 2019. It is unclear when the assembly will be formed.
‘New stab in the back’
Speaking in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official Wasel Abu Youssef said Sudan’s decision to normalize relations with Israel was a “new stab in the back” for the Palestinians.
“Sudan’s joining others who normalized ties with the state of the Israeli occupation represents a new stab in the back of the Palestinian people and a betrayal of the just Palestinian cause,” Abu Youssef said.
He said the African state’s decision to follow the UAE and Bahrain “will not shake the Palestinians’ faith in their cause and in continuing their struggle”.
In the besieged Gaza Strip, Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Palestinian group, Hamas, a traditional ally of Sudan, told the Reuters news agency the decision was a step in the “wrong direction”.
The Trump administration has sought to advance deals between Israel and Arab nations as part of its push to reach a so-called “Deal of the Century” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and shore up support among the US president’s Evangelical Christian base ahead of the upcoming elections.
Speaking in front of reporters in the Oval Office, Trump asked Netanyahu – who was on speakerphone – if he believed Joe Biden, his Democratic presidential opponent whom he called “Sleepy Joe”, could have helped broker such a deal.
Netanyahu answered: “One thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America, and we appreciate what you’ve done enormously.”
Netanyahu welcomed what he called a rapidly expanding “circle of peace” and the start of a “new era”.
Designation to be lifted
Trump’s decision earlier this week to remove Sudan from the US list of State Sponsors of Terrorism paved the way for the deal with Israel, marking a foreign policy achievement for the Republican president as he seeks a second term trailing behind Biden in opinion polls.
Trump announced on Monday he would take Sudan, which the US designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993, off the list once it had deposited $335m it had pledged to pay in compensation.
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