Israel and Sudan to normalize relations, says Donald Trump

"We are expanding the circle of peace." Israel and Sudan have agreed to normalize their diplomatic relations, the US president announced Friday (October 23). It was in the Oval Office, surrounded in particular by his Minister of Foreign Affairs Mike Pompeo and his son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner, that the tenant of the White House declared that the two enemy countries had made "peace".

The US president was on the phone, on loudspeaker, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu land his Sudanese counterpart Abdallah Hamdok. The latter thanked Donald Trump for having decided to remove his country from the list of states supporting terrorism , saying that this decision would have a major economic impact.

"We are expanding the circle of peace so quickly thanks to your leadership," said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his part. Before Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had agreed to normalize their relations with Israel . This is "another major step towards peace in the Middle East," tweeted White House spokesman Judd Deere.

Judd Deere Tweet

@JuddPDeere45

#BREAKING: President @realDonaldTrump has announced that Sudan and Israel have agreed to the normalization of relations— another major step toward building peace in the Middle East with another nation joining the Abraham Accords 🇸🇩 🇮🇱 🇺🇸

4:41 PM · 23 oct. 2020

Shortly before, the White House announced that Donald Trump was going to remove Sudan from the list of states supporting terrorism. Donald Trump "has informed Congress of his intention to formally cancel the designation of Sudan as the sponsor state of terrorism," said the US executive, calling this development a "pivotal moment" for Sudan and relations between Washington and Khartoum .

The normalization of Sudan-Israel relations is "a political sin which harms the Palestinian people and their just cause, also harms the national interest of Sudan (...) and benefits only Netanyahu", reacted of his side, Hazem Qassem, the official spokesperson for Hamas, the movement in power in the Gaza Strip.

The announcement comes after Sudan "agreed to resolve some claims of US victims of terrorism and their families. Yesterday, under the agreement, the transitional government of Sudan transferred $ 335 million to an escrow account for these victims. and their families, ”the White House said.

These include the attacks perpetrated in 1998 by the jihadist nebula Al-Qaeda against the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which left more than 200 dead. Sudan, once an outcast of the international community for having hosted al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in the 1990s, was ordered to pay these compensation by the American justice system.

"A new future of collaboration"

The deal paves the way for "a new future of collaboration and support for the historic transition underway" in Sudan, according to the White House, which praised the country's transitional authorities. The executive finally called on the US Congress to pass the necessary legislation to implement the agreement.

Sudan has been on this American blacklist since 1993, synonymous with hindering investments for this poor country. The United States has reconnected with Khartoum already under former Democratic President Barack Obama, when former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir began to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and played the game of peace in South Sudan.

Since the fall of the Bashir regime in April 2019, Sudan has been ruled by a transitional authority in which military and civilians share power, until elections scheduled for 2022.