Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize their relationship. It is the third time in several months that an Arab country has entered into a diplomatic relationship with Israel.
The agreement between the countries came about after American mediation. US President Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Sudanese officials on Friday.
Journalists were allowed to enter Trump’s Oval Office during that phone call. The president can put the new diplomatic success to good use. He hopes to be re-elected in a week and a half but is behind in the polls.
Representatives of the countries will likely sign the deal in the White House within weeks. Delegations from the countries will also discuss their future trade relationship. Israel made similar agreements with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates earlier this year. A top adviser to Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, called the deal with Sudan a “major breakthrough.”
Sudan of terror list
Trump now wants to remove Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism. He has also informed the American Parliament about this. If Sudan goes off that blacklist, it is expected that more companies will dare to do business there.
Sudan was ruled by autocrat Omar al-Bashir for decades, but his regime was toppled last year following massive protests. The new government is also making $335 million available to compensate victims of Al-Qaeda or their families.
The country declared war on Israel in the last century. After the Six-Day War in 1967, delegations from the Arab countries gathered in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. They then said no to peace, recognition, and negotiations with Israel.
