Sudan and Israel have agreed to begin normalizing relations and set aside decades of hostility. On Friday, President Trump and leaders of both nations said that marking the third such accord brokered by the White House in the weeks is leading up to the U.S. presidential election.
The deal does not immediately entail full diplomatic relations, for instance with an exchange of embassies, but it is an agreement to start discussions over normalization with an initial focus on economic and related matters.
Inviting reporters into the Oval Office during a telephone conference, Trump announced the agreement in Washington as he held with Israeli and Sudanese leaders and praised what he called a peace agreement.
Sudan becomes the third Arab country in recent weeks to establish ties with Israel, as the Trump administration presses majority – Muslim states to make a separate peace with Israel that does not depend on resolving the conflict with the Palestinians.
Trump casts the effort as a way to strengthen Israel’s security, a priority for those supporters include conservative Jewish Republicans who make up an important part of Trump’s political base in Florida, a linchpin to his reelection effort next month along with American Jewish supporters of Israel. Like the 2017 decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a standard applause line at Trump rallies, the normalization agreements are now also a regular feature.
Senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said issues such as the formal establishment of diplomatic ties would be resolved later.
According to the joint statement, Israel and Sudan plan to first open up economic and trade relations, with an initial focus on agriculture.