53 years after the "Three Laws" of the Khartoum Conference, it appears: The capital of Sudan will change its approach to Israel • Jerusalem confirms: "Breakthrough achieved" • Efforts to convene a peace conference in the Persian Gulf
Pompeo and Hamduk in the bow, yesterday
Photo:
Archive - AFP
In Jerusalem and Washington, there is growing conviction that there will soon be a breakthrough in Israeli-Sudan relations. A senior government official told Israel Today yesterday: "In a few weeks, Sudan will also declare peace with Israel. We are close to that and it will happen." Political sources in Israel have also confirmed that a breakthrough is currently taking place against Sudan.
The optimistic assessments were voiced after yesterday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Khartoum on a direct, first and historic flight from Jerusalem at the end of his visit to Israel. In his conversation with the Prime Minister of Transition in Sudan, Abdullah Hamduk, Pompeo discussed, among other things, the possibility of promoting direct contact with Israel. "We discussed positive developments in Israel-Sudan relations," Pompeo tweeted at the end of the meeting. Hamduk told Pompeo that the transitional government has no authority to decide on normalization with Israel, but the US administration said there had been a positive development regarding relations with Israel.
Prime Minister Netanyahu on the Israeli delegation to Abu Dhabi // Photo: Roi Avraham; Sound: Nir Sharaf / GPO
In Washington, it is estimated that in practice the person making the decisions is the chairman of the Provisional Council, 'Abd al-Fatah al-Burhan, who met with Netanyahu six months ago and supports strengthening ties with both Israel and the United States. Arab news agencies reported that Prime Minister Hamduk demanded that Pompeo act to remove Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism, in part because of the normalization of relations with Israel.
Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen congratulated on what defined the breakthrough with Sudan. "Only recently has the ministry published a document with an initial mapping of the common interests of Israel and Sudan," Cohen said. "According to this document, Sudan will be able to assist Israel in preventing arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip through the Red Sea, thus contributing to our war on terror. Infiltrators from Sudan return to their country. "
Pompeo prepares a conference
Meanwhile, Pompeo is continuing his travels in the Middle East, and today he is due to arrive in Bahrain to also promote her willingness to make peace with Israel. From there it will continue to the UAE and Oman. The Pompeo entourage indicated that he might visit another Arab country. As revealed in "Israel Today", the skipping campaign is intended to formulate an agreement in principle between Israel and the leaders of the moderate Arab countries to hold a regional peace summit, which will probably take place in one of the Persian Gulf principalities and will be under American auspices. Yesterday, Israeli political sources approved the publication.
• The head of the National Security Council will go to the United Arab Emirates at the head of a delegation to promote normalization
• Pompeo in Khartoum: "We held a discussion on deepening ties between Israel and Sudan"
• The Gulf: Pompeo is planning a regional peace conference in the coming weeks
According to senior Arab diplomats, Bahrain, Morocco and Oman are expected to deepen their ties with Israel, and similarly to the UAE to sign a peace agreement, but not before signing an official agreement between Israel and the Emirates. The diplomats stressed that the Palestinians would be investigated if Abu Mazen agreed to take part in the conference. However, according to Palestinian Arab diplomats, any invitation will be rejected outright.
The Americans are coming, too
Meanwhile, relations with the Emirates themselves are also tightening. An American-Israeli delegation will leave for the principalities next week to open peace talks. The Israeli side will be composed of the head of the National Security Headquarters, Meir Ben Shabbat, the Deputy Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, Ronen Peretz, the Director General of the Ministry of Defense, General Amir Eshel, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority, Yoel Feldschau At the same time, an American delegation will arrive in the Emirates that will include Robert O'Brien, the US National Security Adviser, Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to the US President, and Avi Berkowitz, the special envoy for international negotiations. Prime Minister Netanyahu said ahead of the talks: "I hope that more countries in our region will join the peace circle."
Meanwhile, yesterday a first telephone conversation took place between Defense Minister Bnei Gantz and UAE Defense Minister Muhammad al-Bawwardi. The Gantz bureau said that "the two discussed the need to promote the normalization agreement, which will establish, among other things, the security ties between the countries."
