Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had met in Uganda the President of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in an effort to normalize relations between Sudan and Israel. While a Sudanese official confirmed that the UAE coordinated the meeting, which sparked Palestinian condemnation.

The Israeli Prime Minister said - in a statement - that Netanyahu and Al-Burhan discussed on Monday in the Ugandan capital Entebbe ways of joint cooperation that would lead to the normalization of relations between the two countries, noting that the meeting took place at the invitation of Uganda.

He added, "General Al-Burhan wants to help his country move forward with a process of modernization by ending its isolation and placing it on the world map."

Israeli sources said that Netanyahu asked the proof - during the two-hour meeting - to open the Sudanese airspace to Israeli flights coming from Latin America, including shortening the flights by three hours, while the Sudanese official asked him to mediate to ease the US sanctions on his country, and delete its name from Terrorism regulation.

The Israeli side took the initiative to announce the unprecedented meeting, while the Sudanese Sovereign Council remained silent.

The Associated Press quoted a senior Sudanese military official as saying that the UAE coordinated the meeting with Al-Burhan and Netanyahu, adding that the meeting aims to remove Sudan from the US terrorism list.

The meeting - which Netanyahu described as "historic" - comes after an invitation he received from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to visit Washington, and after Emirati and Saudi efforts to remove Sudan from the US terrorism list.

It also comes a week after US President Donald Trump announced his administration's peace plan between the Palestinians and Israelis, the first public meeting between an Arab leader and Netanyahu since the announcement of the plan.

Without consulting
In Khartoum, the Sudanese government spokesman, Faisal Saleh, said that the meeting of the Sudanese President of the Sovereign Council with the Israeli Prime Minister took place without the knowledge or consultation of the Council.

Saleh added - in a statement - that the Cabinet is awaiting the return of Lieutenant-General Al-Burhan to provide clarifications regarding the meeting referred to.

The Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Asmaa Mohamed Abdallah, also mentioned - in response to a question by Al-Jazeera correspondent - that she received the news from the media, as every viewer receives and does not know anything about.

Erekat described the meeting as a flagrant departure from the Arab Peace Initiative (Reuters)

Palestinian condemnation
In the reactions, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, condemned the meeting that Al-Burhan held with Netanyahu in Uganda.

Erekat described the meeting as a stab in the back of the Palestinian people, and a blatant departure from the Arab peace initiative.

The Fatah movement condemned the meeting, and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Movement, Jibril Rajoub, considered that the meeting contradicts the stance of the brotherly Sudanese people who support the right of the Palestinian people, and that it is a departure from the Arab peace initiative.

Hamas also condemned the meeting, and its spokesman, Hazem Qassem, said that the normalization encounters encouraged the occupation to continue its crimes and aggression against the Palestinians, and violated the sanctity of the sanctities of the Arab and Islamic nation.

In turn, the Islamic Jihad movement strongly condemned the meeting, and affirmed that it does not express the position of the Sudanese people in support of the Palestinian cause. The movement also called on the Sudanese people, their living forces and revolutionaries to reject and condemn this meeting.

In the context, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that the meeting strikes at the heart of the interests of the Sudanese people and its position, which has not stopped supporting the Palestinian people, and the involvement of many of its people in the ranks of the Palestinian resistance.

She explained that this shows the extent of subservience and subservience to hostile policies and plans targeting the higher interests of the Arab nation and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and Arab normalization with the Zionist entity.

Netanyahu said Africa is back in the arms of Israel (Reuters)

An embassy in Jerusalem
On the other hand, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni affirmed that his country is studying the possibility of opening an embassy in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu had arrived in Uganda, and anticipated his visit by saying that Israel had returned to Africa, and that Africa had returned to the arms of Israel.

Netanyahu is the fifth visit to the African continent in three years.