By: IBRAHIM Jaafar
Israel and Sudan have agreed to move towards forging normal relations for the first time, Israeli officials said on Monday after the leaders of the two former adversaries met in Uganda.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of Sudan’s sovereign council, in the city of Entebbe in central Uganda.
Press reports indicated that the Israeli diplomatic movement in Africa is aimed at creating a new path for flights to South America while explaining that using the airspace of countries known for their hostility to Israel, especially Chad and Sudan, would allow Tel Aviv to operate more direct flights to this continent.
Normalizing relations with Sudan, where Arab states gathered in 1967 to issue what became known as the “Three No’s” – no recognition of Israel, no peace with Israel and no negotiations with Israel – would allow Netanyahu to burnish his diplomatic credentials a month before the country’s March 2 election.
The development of relations with African countries is one of Netanyahu’s external approach priorities, as he had succeeded in resuming relations with Chad last year, Times of Israel reported.
In January 2019, a high-ranking Israeli official confirmed to Hebrew media that the Chadian President Idriss Déby’s visit to Jerusalem paved the way for Israel to normalize relations with African countries with a Muslim majority, especially Sudan, Mali and Niger.
On Sunday, the United States invited Burhan to visit Washington, Sudan’s sovereign council said, highlighting warmer bilateral ties.
Earlier on Monday, Netanyahu held talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who said his country was studying the possibility of opening an embassy in Jerusalem.
The Israeli side took the initiative to announce the unprecedented meeting, while the Sudanese Sovereignty Council opted for silence amid widespread Arab and Palestinian condemnation following the recently-released US Middle East peace plan.
Israel of yesterday is no less to Israel of today. She is known to fuel genocide and war crimes, turning Muslim bloods into money’ via arms sales, killing and maiming Palestinian [Sudanese brothers in faith] for ages.
Sudan must take heed and learn from history, opening her airspace to Israel is equal to handing over her reign to its fierce rival.