Sudan national dialogue committee dismisses normalization with Israel proposal
November 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A proposal related to normalization of ties with Israel has created controversy within the Foreign Relations Committee of the national dialogue after one of the parties asked to put it up for discussion.
Mohammed Abdullah, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee denounced the request by the head of the little-known Independent party on normalization with Israel and ruled out the possibility of even including it in the recommendations of the national dialogue.
The party chairman argued on Tuesday that there was no justification for hostility towards Israel, pointing out that this stance took a toll on the country politically and economically.
Abdullah told reporters after the meeting that “even if normalization has been approved by the committee, the Sudanese constitution does not allow it and all official documents contain the phrase of ‘dealing with all countries except for the state of Israel’”.
According to sources, there were also differences within the committee on the need for the restriction of “all countries except Israel” on the Sudanese passport.
Sudan has no diplomatic relations established with Israel and remains hostile to the Jewish state on the grounds that it is occupying Arab lands.
However, a U.S. diplomatic cable leaked by Wikileaks in 2011 spoke of a meeting between then presidential adviser Mustafa Osman Ismail and the top US diplomat in Sudan Alberto Fernandez in 2008.
In the context of seeking to normalize Sudan-US relations, Ismail told Fernandez that Khartoum drafted a strategy for working with the US with immediate, intermediate, and long-term goals.
As an example, he stated that one aspect of this strategy included normalization of relations with Israel, because “if things were going well with the U.S., you might be able to help us with Israel, as they are your closest ally in the region”.
But Ismail later denied ever saying that and stressed that Sudan “refuses to cooperate with the Zionist entity altogether”.
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