President Trump brokers Israel-Sudan peace deal

FPI / October 25, 2020

President Trump's decision to remove Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism helped pave the way for Sudan to reach a deal on the normalization of relations with Israel.

The deal, announced by Trump on Friday, makes Sudan the third Arab country to normalize ties with Israel, following United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Trump said that there are “many, many more coming,” and that there were "at least five" who wanted to come in to the deal.

“This follows on Sudan’s recent agreement to resolve certain claims of United States victims of terror and their families,” Judd Deere, the White House Deputy Press Secretary, said it a statement.

Deere noted that the transitional government of Sudan transferred $335 million into an escrow account for these victims and their families.

“By finally serving justice for the American people, President Trump was able to achieve what previous presidents could not – the resolution of longstanding claims of victims of the East Africa embassy bombings, the attack on the USS Cole, and the murder of USAID employee John Granville,” the statement said.

“This is a significant achievement for the President and his administration and brings a measure of closure to many to whom it has long been out of reach.”

President Trump held a conference call in front of reporters at the Oval Office with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

Netanyahu thanked Trump for brokering the agreement and said: “We are expanding the circle of peace so rapidly with your leadership.”

The Sudan-Israel agreement is expected to commit to initial steps on economic and trade relations, with issues such as formal establishment of diplomatic ties and exchange of ambassadors to be resolved later, a senior U.S. official said.

Free Press International