The train of normalization between Sudan and Israel is about to reach its final stop after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed statements attributed to the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, which affirm the existence of mutual contacts and aspire to peace with Israel.
Netanyahu said that the statements reflect the courageous decision taken by the head of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, which called for work to strengthen relations between the two countries, adding that Israel, Sudan and the entire region will profit from the peace agreement that will build a better future for all the peoples of the region, and affirmed that Israel will do everything What is needed in order to implement this vision in reality.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Haidar Badawi Sadiq stated that his country is looking forward to a peace agreement with Israel based on parity and the interest of Sudan without sacrificing the constants, in the first Sudanese reaction after the Emirati-Israeli normalization.
In media statements reported by Sudanese media today, Tuesday, he said that there is no reason for the continuation of hostility between Sudan and Israel, stressing that he does not deny the existence of contacts between the two countries.
Hidden Dialogue The Sudanese and Israeli statements confirm the existence of a dialogue between the two countries that is taking place in secret. Unidentified figures in the Sudanese government were caught up in the parties after the death of the godfather of normalization, Najwa Qadah al-Dam, last May, according to Sudanese observers.
It is noteworthy that the file of normalization between Khartoum and Tel Aviv is still managed outside the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs despite a recommendation to refer the file to the foreign ministry following an internal crisis caused by the meeting of the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Entebbe, the Ugandan last February, because of what The Sudanese government considered it not having previously informed of the meeting.
The file of normalization is surrounded by great embarrassment, with voices supporting it openly, and according to a diplomat in the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, the ministry has so far been devoid of any administration concerned with Israel.
The diplomat told Al-Jazeera Net that there are departments in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such as the Arab, African, European, Asian and American administrations, without creating any department concerned with normalization with Israel.
The policy of silence
The late Najwa Qadah Al-Dam remained silently managing the file of normalization during the two eras of Al-Bashir and Burhan as an ambassador in the presidential palace before she died, affected by the Corona pandemic.
Journalist Ammar Awad considers the Sudanese authorities' permission for the arrival of an Israeli plane with medical personnel on board to treat bloodshed as an indication of contact and dialogue between the two countries.
He points out that what the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported on Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen regarding the signing of a peace agreement between Khartoum and Tel Aviv before the end of this year indicates that the dialogue has not been interrupted by the death of the bloodshed and there is another Sudanese figure holding the file.
The authority had reported that contacts between the two countries were continuing, and that missions from the two parties were continuing preparations in full swing to reach this agreement.
Awad considered that the crossing of the first Israeli aircraft coming from Argentina is another evidence of a continuous dialogue process that may result in an agreement that legalizes Israeli commercial aircraft to cross Sudan's airspace.
In return for normalization,
Ammar Awad and journalist Shawqi Abdel Azim - who are closely related to decision makers in the transitional government - agree that there will be an important development in the file of Sudan-Israel relations before the end of this year, accompanied by the removal of Sudan's name from the US list of states sponsoring terrorism.
Shawqi Abdel-Azim says that the lifting of US sanctions on Sudan may take place within weeks after which the way will be paved for the normalization of relations with Israel.
He confirms that the Sovereignty Council had initiated the return of the normalization file to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the meeting between Al-Burhan and Netanyahu, but the file was stagnant because Tel Aviv did not take a step that corresponds to Al-Burhan’s decision to meet with Netanyahu.
He attributes the deadlock of the file to the timing factor of the Israeli elections, as well as the lack of information that the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to hold the file, which began outside its corridors.
The rejectionist front The rejectionist
front for normalization with Israel is expanding among the Sudanese political forces, left and right, despite the presence of voices known to support normalization as a matter of national interests.
According to Muhammad Wadaa, a leader in the Sudanese Baath Party and the Alliance of the Forces of Freedom and Change, "normalization between Khartoum and Tel Aviv has become possible and is taking place in the dark."
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Wada warns the Sudanese parties against being drawn into what he calls "traps," especially since the UAE will exert pressure on countries that have not been normalized.
He says that it is quite clear that the deal of the century is rolling like a snowball growing in size, and Arab countries are rushing in exchange for Israel's promise of investments, while poor Arab countries, including Sudan, are in dire need of these investments.
"Sudan waited for Saudi and Emirati support and turned its back on regional axes that used to support it, and now Sudan is paying in free bills."
He asks, "What is Sudan's interest in establishing a relationship with Israel? The US administration is the one who decides to lift the sanctions, not the Jewish lobby. Iraq is now subject to America and its agents occupying its palaces, and Iraq is still subject to US sanctions."
No mandate
. Muhammad Wadaa believes that a dangerous issue such as normalization with Israel is supposed to take place by popular will, because the Sudanese will not accept that an unauthorized government takes such a step that will put us in a dangerous test.
In the same context, Muhammad Badr al-Din, the external relations official for the Popular Congress Party, says that the transitional government does not have a mandate to normalize relations with Israel, but it seems that the matter is going in secret and what appeared to be publicly Israel has shown for political gains.
Badr al-Din confirms to Al-Jazeera Net that the civil part of the Sudanese government is under pressure in the direction of normalization with Israel and is aware that the step will not find acceptance on the street, but perhaps some armed movements support normalization.
And on whether the Sudanese government will reach the stage of normalization, the leader in the People's Congress says, "Whether the government goes in this direction or abandoned it, there are many things in secret. It is likely that it will join the herd of printers."
However, journalist Shawqi Abdel Azim points out that the transitional government has a mandate to normalize with Israel, based on its responsibility to re-establish the troubled conditions with Sudan's return to the international community, lifting sanctions, and improving the economy.
Abdel-Azim does not see any embarrassment to the government with regard to normalization, because it does not mean selling the Palestinian issue that has been based on dialogue since the Camp David Accords.