Sudanese Acting Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din Ismail walked back a statement from his ministry earlier on Aug. 18 stating that Sudan is working on an agreement to normalize ties with Israel.
The foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Haidar Badawi Sadiq, told Sky News Arabia that the Sudanese government is “looking forward to concluding a peace agreement with Israel,” adding that “there’s no reason for the enmity to continue.”
An official from the Sudanese government also told the Associated Press that Sudan and Israel have been in talks on a peace agreement for months and that “it was only a matter of time” before an agreement is reached.
“The Emirati move encouraged us and helped calm some voices within the government who were afraid of backlash from the Sudanese public,” the official said.
Ismail later denied that the Sudanese and Israeli governments have been in talks on the matter, saying that he was “surprised” to see Sadiq’s statement.
“The matter of relations with Israel has not been discussed in the Foreign Ministry at all,” Ismail said in a statement. “No one tasked Haidar Badawi Sadiq with making statements on this matter.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Aug. 18, “Israel, Sudan and the region will all benefit from a peace deal and will be able to build a better future together for all nations of the region. We will do everything necessary to make this vision a reality.”
U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer noted in a tweet that Sudan is the “same country that once allied with Iran & Hamas, and which in 1967 hosted the Arab League summit that declared the Khartoum 3 No’s: ‘No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it.’”
BREAKING: 🇸🇩 Sudan seeks peace with 🇮🇱 Israel.
Same country that once allied with Iran & Hamas, and which in 1967 hosted the Arab League summit that declared the Khartoum 3 No's: "No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it."https://t.co/9FA4ASNwX9
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 18, 2020
Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reached an agreement on Aug. 13 that normalizes relations between the two countries; the two governments are expected to sign an agreement that will establish economic ties between the two countries. Netanyahu has said that the Israeli government is working with Saudi Arabia to use the country’s airspace for flights from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
