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Sudan protesters reject secret meeting with Israel

February 5, 2020 at 9:45 am

Protesters hold placards during a protest against meeting of Sudan’s Sovereign Council Head Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, in front of Prime Ministry building in Khartoum, Sudan on 4 February 2020 [Mahmoud Hajaj/Anadolu Agency]

Scores of Sudanese people yesterday protested outside the government’s headquarters in the capital, Khartoum, after revelations that a secret meeting was held between Chairman of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,  on Monday.

Netanyahu’s office revealed that a meeting took place between the two men in the Ugandan city of Entebbe, during which they agreed to “start cooperation leading to the normalisation of relations between the two countries”.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese cabinet headed by Abdullah Hamdouk held an emergency meeting to discuss the Sudanese general’s meeting with Netanyahu.

READ: Al-Burhan meeting with Israeli PM ‘bold and brave’

The Sudanese government said on Monday that it had not been notified or consulted regarding the meeting.

Faisal Muhammad Salih, Sudanese information minister, and government spokesman, said the government “received the news about the meeting between chief of the sovereign council and Israeli prime minister through the media.”

“We, the members of the cabinet, were not notified or consulted about this meeting. We are waiting for the chief of the sovereign council to return and give clarification about this,” he added.

With the exception of Egypt and Jordan, which are bound with peace treaties with Israel, no other Arab country has established official relations with Israel.

However many appear to be fast-tracking normalising relations with the occupation state in particular Gulf states and Morocco.

In June 2018, an exposé by the New Yorker revealed that Israel and the UAE have been engaged in secret normalisation talks since the 1990s. The report disclosed that “the secret relationship between Israel and the UAE can be traced back to a series of meetings in a nondescript office in Washington D.C after the signing of the Oslo Accords.” These meetings discussed the possibility of the UAE purchasing F-16 fighter jets from the US which are known to be comprised of Israeli technology. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed, also gave his blessing for delegations of influential American Jews to be brought to Abu Dhabi to meet with Emirati officials and establish an intelligence-sharing relationship.

Late last month it was revealed that Morocco had received three Israeli reconnaissance drones as part of $48 million arms deal.