Netanyahu is celebrating it .. Did Israeli planes fly over Sudan? Why?

Ahmed Fadl - Khartoum

Khartoum is still silent against the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Israeli planes crossing the airspace of Sudan, but the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that there are things that make the country's airspace required for Israel.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, Abdel-Hafez Abdel-Rahim, told Al-Jazeera Net that the authority cannot talk about Israeli planes crossing Sudan's airspace or not, before the sovereign authorities, represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Council of Ministers and Sovereignty, announce this.

On Sunday, Netanyahu told American Jewish leaders that Israeli commercial planes had begun to fly over Sudan's airspace, as a result of the important meeting he held with the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, about two weeks ago.

"Now we are discussing rapid normalization ... the first Israeli plane passed yesterday over Sudan's airspace ... this air line reduced the flight from Israel to South America by about three hours," he added.

Economic benefits

Abdel-Rahim believes that the secret of Israel's request for Sudan's airspace is the country's appropriate geographical location for Israeli aircraft to cross into Latin America.

He explains that the strategic location of Sudan makes it the best air corridor connecting the eastern and western corridors of the continents of the world, providing aviation hours and fuel for Israeli aircraft.

According to the spokesman, the Sudanese Aviation Authority implemented a process of redrawing the air route in 2018, which raised the air corridors from 18 to 42, enabling transiting aircraft to reach their destinations at the lowest cost, the shortest and the safest routes.

He says that the importance of Sudan now appears to the Israeli airlines due to the widespread infrastructure of six radars and 14 satellites, which enabled it to occupy the second place in Africa in aviation after South Africa.

Abdul Rahim added that the Sudanese airspace is technically qualified, and that its navigational center is required by any country to serve its aircraft and address them via voice and electronically to guide them to the airways.

The

The former Secretary-General of the Air Transport Chamber in Sudan, Omar Ali Abdul Majid

tells how Israel tried earlier, through the International Air Transport Association (IATA), to change the route of the "red corridor" that passes through Sudan, but failed due to the high cost of flying outside it.

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Abdul Majid indicates that in the event of normalization of relations, Israel, which was deprived of the red corridor, would benefit, because its trips to southern Africa were costing it an additional ten hours by avoiding the airspace of Sudan.

He says that the Israeli planes used to take off from Tel Aviv and were forced to fly through Chad or Mauritania to Kampala, Nairobi or Johannesburg, but now they cross to Egypt and Sudan and from there to the southernmost point in the African continent.

He believes that there are benefits to Sudan in the transit fees, which are calculated in nautical miles, as the flying hour is calculated at about $ 350 for navigation services.

Also, in the event that relations develop, Israeli aircraft will have permission to land, with both technical and commercial parts, for refueling, and for the service of transporting passengers and goods.

Divided Street

Regarding the opinion of the Sudanese street in this regard, political science professor Hassan Al-Saouri says that in the past the street was united against normalization with Israel, but there is a division now.

Al-Saouri added in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, "Since the Entebbe meeting between Al-Burhan and Netanyahu, it has become clear that there is an appreciable percentage in the street looking for interests, and you see that the Arabs themselves have normalized with Tel Aviv, so what prevents Sudan?"

He points out that there is also an estimated percentage that rejects normalization and its voice is higher, represented by the Islamic parties of various orientations, with the exception of the Islamic Center Party led by Yusef al-Kudah.

As for the Israeli planes crossing the Sudanese airspace, Al-Saouri believes that the government practically proceeded with agreements with Israel without regard to the opponents, even within the ruling coalition of the Forces of Freedom and Change.

The

Al-Saouri mentions that parties such as the National Umma Party, the Communist Party and Arab parties have rejected any efforts to normalize normalization with Israel, but he believes that their position appears to be a mere media rejection, because if it were real, they would have requested review of the matter through the Sovereignty Council and the Council of Ministers.

He confirms that normalization has become an applied policy, and that the next step may be what Israel has offered in terms of aid to Sudan in agriculture and energy.

"After the Israeli plane crossed the Sudanese airspace with a signal from al-Burhan alone, the two councils, the Sovereignty Council and the Council of Ministers, have nothing to do," journalist Abdullah Rizk said in an article published on Monday.

He added, "There is no need for a legislative council, as long as there is someone who is alone in reporting on the country's affairs, and then gets the support of the leaders of the armed forces later, as a foregone conclusion."

Opposition forces,

on the other hand, are still Sudanese political forces in their positions rejecting any rapprochement with Israel, and the leader of the Popular Congress Party, Bashir Adam Rahma, called on the head of the Sovereignty Council to withdraw from the efforts of normalization with Tel Aviv.

Adam Rahma said in a press conference today, Monday, that "after Israel rejects the grievances of the Palestinians, we can consider Sudan having relations with it."

The leader of the National Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, refuted - in an article - the hypothesis that normalization helps Sudan in financial files, saying that it is "a big delusion."

Al-Mahdi added that the file of foreign debt of $ 60 billion is in the hands of the Paris Club countries and other countries, and that the European Union’s condition for dealing is to join the International Criminal Court.

He emphasized that removing Sudan from the US terrorism list is in the hands of American lawmakers, not the administration, and four of them promised to respond to this entitlement, noting that "the file of fines imposed on us unjustly for terrorist bombings is in the hands of the American judiciary."

Al-Mahdi stressed that there is no benefit to Sudan from normalizing relations with Israel except for "tarnishing his name and helping a criminal to escape punishment."