Israel and Sudan on Friday agreed to normalize relations in a deal brokered with the help of the United States, making Sudan the third Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past two months.
U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking re-election on November 3, sealed the agreement in a phone call on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Transitional Council Head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, senior U.S. officials said.
Netanyahu welcomed the announcement and hailed the third Arab country to join the “expanding the circle of peace.”
“In Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, the Arab League adopted the ‘three nos’ in 1967: No to peace with Israel, no to recognition of Israel, and no to negotiations with Israel. Today, however, Khartoum is saying the opposite: Yes to peace with Israel, yes to recognition of Israel, and yes to normalization with Israel. This is truly a new age,” Netanyahu said.
He also announced that delegations between the two countries will soon meet in order to discuss cooperation in a variety of fields, among them agriculture and trade, and added that the “skies of Sudan are open to Israel today,” allowing for direct and shorter flights between Israel and Africa and South America.
Netanyahu thanked Transitional Council Head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, as well as President Trump and his team.
As part of the agreement, Trump took steps to remove Sudan from a U.S. government list of countries promoting terrorism. A senior U.S. official said Trump signed a document on Air Force One on Thursday night to notify Congress of his intention to remove Sudan from the list. Haaretz
