US President Donald Trump has announced Israel-Sudan normalisation deal. President Trump has removed Sudan from the list of “countries that officially sponsor terrorists” and restored economic aid and investment in the country.
Announcing this, the US President said that “at least five more” Arab countries also want a peace agreement with Israel.
HUGE win today for the United States and for peace in the world. Sudan has agreed to a peace and normalization agreement with Israel! With the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, that’s THREE Arab countries to have done so in only a matter of weeks. More will follow! pic.twitter.com/UHB8H6oaZc
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2020
A few weeks ago, Israel signed peace agreements with two Arab countries Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The two countries have become the first Gulf states to recognize Israel in 26 years.
Israel signed peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and in 1994 respectively. Mauritania, a member of the African Arab League, recognized Israel in 2009 but severed ties 10 years later.
Meanwhile, the UAE welcomed the recent development considering it as “an important step to boost security and prosperity in the region”.
Read more: Israel establishes relations with Bahrain, UAE at White House: Trump says more deals coming
The Israel-Sudan normalisation deal
Shortly after President Trump removed Sudan from the US list of countries that officially sponsor terrorists, reporters were taken to the Oval Office in Washington, where President Trump was talking on the phone with leaders of Sudan and Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the agreement a “dramatic breakthrough for peace” and the beginning of a “new era.”
He said Israeli and Sudanese delegations would meet to discuss trade and agricultural co-operation.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok thanked President Trump for removing his country from the list of terrorists and said the Sudanese government was “working for international relations to best serve our people.”
President Trump said he hoped Saudi Arabia would also normalize relations with Israel.
White House spokesman Jude Derry said the Israel-Sudan normalisation deal was “another important step towards peace in the Middle East, with another state joining the Abraham Accords”. The term Abraham Accords is coined by Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
A stab in the back
Palestinians have condemned the growing number of Arab countries establishing relations with Israel.
Historically, Arab countries have made peace talks conditional on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied in the 1967 war and the establishment of East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.
However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the agreement, saying no one has the right to speak on behalf of the Palestinians. Hamas, which controls Gaza, called it a “political sin.”
Wasel Abu Youssef, Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official called Sudan-Israel peace deal “a new stab in the back” of the Palestinian nation.