The Sudanese Cabinet revealed - Sunday evening - that the United States stipulated the normalization of relations between Khartoum and Israel, to remove Sudan from its black list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

The Cabinet said - in a statement - that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, during his visit to Khartoum, presented the United States ’offer of recognition and normalization with Israel, as a condition for removing Sudan from the list.

The statement added that the American side suggested a four-way phone call, by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to congratulate the President of the Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, and to announce an agreement of principles between Sudan and Israel on the normalization of relations.

He pointed out that it was agreed to prepare an agreement between the two parties on the issue of restoring Sudanese-Israeli relations, and it would be decided by the Legislative Council.

Joint meeting

Earlier Sunday, the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that a joint meeting between Sudan and Israel would be held in the coming weeks, to discuss prospects for cooperation.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was agreed that delegations from the two countries would meet in the coming weeks to negotiate cooperation agreements in the fields of agriculture, trade, economy, aviation, immigration issues, and others.

The statement indicated the commitment of the United States and Israel to help Sudan restore its sovereign immunity, improve food security, exploit its economic potential and fight what it called terrorism.

Resolution without consultation

A member of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council, Siddiq Tower, confirmed to Al-Jazeera that the decision to normalize normalization with Israel was taken without reference to the ruling institutions, and said that the decision to normalize normalization with Israel was taken individually by al-Burhan and Hamdok, without referring to the ruling institutions concerned with adjudicating such issues.

Tower added that the United States obligated the Sudanese government to pay money from the sustenance of its people, in exchange for removing it from the list of states sponsoring terrorism.

He recalled that normalization with Israel was not initially linked to removing Sudan from the terrorism list, but it quickly entered as one of the items in this case.

Netanyahu announced the sending of a shipment of wheat to Sudan (Reuters)

Wheat shipment

Meanwhile, the Sudanese News Agency said that the country has received the first batch of a wheat grant from the UAE, amounting to 67,000 tons, which will be allocated to the mills operating in Khartoum and the states.

The Israeli Prime Minister also confirmed that Israel also sent a shipment of wheat to Sudan, and Netanyahu said - in a statement issued by his office - "We look forward to a warm peace with Sudan, and we immediately send to our new friends there wheat flour worth 5 million dollars."

He added that Israel will work closely with the United States to support the political transition process in Sudan.

On Friday, Khartoum confirmed the normalization of its relations with Israel and "ending the state of hostility between them," according to what was stated in a tripartite statement issued by Sudan, the United States and Israel, which was broadcast by Sudanese state television, and the agreement was described as "historic."

He refused and protested

The normalization step faces widespread rejection in the Sudanese political and popular circles, and Sudanese political forces have declared their categorical rejection of normalization with Israel.

In an opinion poll prepared by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Doha earlier this month, only 13% of the Sudanese supported normalization with Israel, compared to 79% opposed.

The opposition National Umma Party expressed in a statement its rejection of the move, and the Secretary-General of the Islamic Fiqh Academy, Adel Hassan Hamza, said that they issued a fatwa prohibiting normalization.

For his part, the People's Congress Party in Sudan called on Saturday to take to the streets to drop the normalization decision with Israel.