Long before the peace agreement, Yitzhak Lebanon, who served as ambassador to the UN institutions in Geneva, held talks with a senior Sudanese figure from 2005 to 2008 and met with Foreign Minister Shalom.
Lebanon in 2011
Now it is allowed to find out:
a secret channel of talks between Israel and Sudan operated from 2005 to 2008. The person behind it was the diplomat Yitzhak (Isaac) Lebanon.
At the time, Lebanon served as Israel's ambassador to the UN institutions in Geneva. Among other things, he dealt with intellectual property.
"At first, the relationship was businesslike and touched on his and mine's area of intellectual property, but slowly the talks began to address other issues as well," says Lebanon.
"He showed interest in Israel, and I asked about what was happening in Sudan. In fact, these became weekly meetings at his office. He repeatedly said that Israel and Sudan should make peace between them, and he never criticized us."
Photo: FOX NEWS
As the relationship grew stronger, another Sudanese representative employed by the United Nations for intellectual property was added to the channel. Lebanon, at the request of the same employee, provided him with a picture of Arik Sharon in the Sinai sands. Al-Bashir, who ruled the country for about thirty years, and for the most part took a hostile line toward Israel.
After several months of conversations, the climax came.
The Sudanese representatives told Lebanon that the country's justice minister was visiting Geneva and was interested in meeting with an official Israeli figure.
Lebanon decided to seize the opportunity and bring to the meeting the most senior Israeli representative he could harness - then-Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
He was on tour in Europe at the time, and at the request of Lebanon changed course and arrived at the secret meeting.
"The meeting was fruitful. They talked for about two hours about various issues, but despite this there was no progress," Lebanon recalled.
The Lebanese ambassador himself continued to meet with the senior Sudanese in Geneva and even after the two had finished their duties they continued to be in touch.
However, since even today contact with Israel is a sensitive issue, Lebanon retains the names of senior Sudanese.