Friday, March 29, 2024 -
Print Edition

Sudan-Israel announce normalization

WASHINGTON — Sudan will become the third Arab country in the past two months to normalize ties with Israel, continuing the trend of Arab states’ willingness to advance ties with the Jewish state, even without a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Sudan’s Sovereign Council chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan speaking in Khartoum, Sept. 26, 2020. (Ashraf Shazly-AFP/Getty via JTA)

President Donald Trump announced the agreement on Oct. 23. According to a joint statement released by Israel, Sudan and the US, the two countries will “end the state of belligerence between their nations.”

Earlier in the day, Trump informed Congress of his intent to remove Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, which reportedly is part of the agreement.

“The Arab-Israeli conflict is moving towards an end,” said Brian Hook, the top State Department official who helped broker the deal, on Oct. 23 at an Oval Office presentation.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have in recent weeks launched fast tracks to open up diplomatic affairs, trade and tourism with Israel, but Sudan is especially significant because it is by far the largest of the three countries, in land mass and in population.

It is also symbolically significant because its capital, Khartoum, is where the Arab League met in 1967 after the Six Day War and issued its “three no’s” to reject any engagement with Israel whatsoever and to continue the state of war.

Like the UAE and Bahrain, Sudan has not been in a war with Israel and has over the years enjoyed a degree of secret ties with Israel.

In 1984, the Sudanese authorities assisted in an airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Sudan’s leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in February, 2020, met openly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda.

There are also thousands of refugees from Sudan’s military conflicts living in Israel.

Trump also said at the Oval Office event last week that the process of solidifying the deals with the UAE and Bahrain “is moving along.”

Bahrain signed a number of cooperative agreements with Israel last week and the UAE and Israel agreed to travel between the countries without a pre-arranged visa.

A government-linked Bahraini institute on Oct. 22 signed an agreement with the US State Department to combat anti-Semitism and delegitimization of Israel.

Trump said he is in talks with the United Arab Emirates to sell the country advanced F-35 stealth combat jets. Israel objects to the sale, as do Democrats in Congress.



Avatar photo

One thought on “Sudan-Israel announce normalization

Leave a Reply