World News – CA – Israel, Sudan agree to normalize relations with US aid, says Trump

President Trump, candidate for re-election on November 3, sealed the deal in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok

Israel and Sudan agreed on Friday to normalize their relations under a deal negotiated with US help, making Sudan the third Arab country to put aside hostilities with Israel in the two last months

US President Donald Trump, candidate for re-election on November 3, sealed the deal in a phone call Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the head of the Transition Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, top officials said

>> Trump intimidates Sudan into embracing Israel It won’t end well | Opinion

As part of the deal, Trump took steps to remove Sudan from a US government list of countries promoting terrorism A senior U One official said Trump signed a document on Air Force One on Thursday evening to inform Congress of its intention to remove Sudan from the list

« Leaders agreed to normalize relations between Sudan and Israel and end the state of belligerence between their nations, » says joint statement released by the three countries

Sudan has followed the path started by the UAE and Bahrain in reaching agreements aimed at normalizing relations with Israel

In recent months, senior Sudanese officials have given seemingly contradictory messages about the possibility of establishing formal relations with Israel, although such relations have existed in practice for some time, and have even included an open meeting between Netanyahu and transitional government leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan during his visit to Uganda earlier this year

It was also reported that Mossad chief Yossi Cohen also met with leaders in view of the possibility of open normalization In return, Sudan expected the US would remove it from a list of countries that support terrorism, and therefore the lifting of sanctions against Khartoum.

Sudanese leaders even made it explicit that this was their motivation to normalize relations with Israel, although the US downplayed the link

The deal was negotiated on the US alongside Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner, Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, US secretary State Mike Pompeo and National Security Officer Miguel Correa

« This is obviously a big step forward, » Kushner told Reuters « This will obviously create a big peace breakthrough between Israel and Sudan Making peace deals is not as easy as we are doing currently They are very hard to do  »

A signing ceremony is expected to take place at the White House in the coming weeks, officials said

Joint statement says leaders agreed to start economic and trade relations, with initial focus on agriculture

Delegations from each country will meet in the coming weeks to negotiate cooperation agreements in these areas as well as in agricultural technology, aviation, migration and other areas, the statement said.

According to the statement, the transitional government of Sudan has « demonstrated its courage and commitment in the fight against terrorism, building its democratic institutions and improving its relations with its neighbors »

As a result, « the United States and Israel have agreed to join Sudan in its new beginning and ensure that it is fully integrated into the international community, » the statement said.

Kushner called the normalization the start of a ‘paradigm shift’ in the Middle East He said Sudan’s decision was symbolically significant because it was in Khartoum in 1967 that the Arab League decided not to recognize Israel’s right to exist

Email me alerts for new Reuters articles

Want to enjoy « zen » reading – ad-free and just the article?
Subscribe today

Log in
to join the conversation

Your comment has been submitted successfully and will be published in
in accordance with site policy

If you want to be notified when your comment is posted,
please fill in your email address in the form below

Haaretzcom, the online edition of the Haaretz newspaper in Israel, and an analysis of Israel and the Middle East Haaretzcom provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish world and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Strip of Gaza, the Israeli business community and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora

Sudan, Israel, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu