The agreement between Sudan and Israel to normalize relations, in arranging which the Trump government played a crucial role, was hailed by Israeli and its Western allies, ever seeking to enlarge their base of influence and exploit the natural resources and huge markets for the goods they produce.
American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the deal "a major breakthrough in eroding tired, old shibboleths that have led to division and conflict." Chairman of The Jewish Agency for Israel. Isaac Herzog, issued a statement saying, "The agreement to normalize ties with Sudan brings another Arab nation into the circle of countries choosing peace, progress and prosperity over hostility, hatred and conflict'.
The statement released by The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations stated, in part, "The stubborn reluctance of Palestinian leaders to even discuss peaceful solutions leaves them increasingly out of step with the rest of the Arab and Muslim world--
AIPAC and Herzog are dead wrong. What has led to "division and conflict" are not "tired, old shibboleths" but Israel's aggression, its continued illegal annexation of Palestinian lands, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, demolitions of their homes and crops, and refusal to allow Palestinians to have an independent state of their own even though the Palestinians have agreed to it being on less than 22% of the original Palestine.
And, Mr. Herzog, Sudan has been motivated to agree to the peace deal only because it was in a bad shape. Sudan needed to get out of that rut and the Sudanese Civilian Prime Minister Abdulla Hamdak capitulated to US pressure over the deal to secure the promised removal of Sudan from the US "terrorist list", which would open the door to removal of crippling sanctions and essential stabilization measures,
It is significant to note that after the deal was agreed to, and Sudan had agreed to pay 335 million dollars in compensation to victims of Al-Quaida bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Trump signed an executive order to remove Sudan from the terrorist list,
Sudan, and the other Arab nations that have agreed to "normalize" relations with Israel, chose "prosperity" over justice and over their own commitments.
As for the statement released by The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. It is a bald-faced lie to claim a "stubborn reluctance of Palestinian leaders to even discuss peaceful solutions." Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came to Oslo and signed, along with Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin, what has come to be known as the Oslo Accord. It provided for Israel retaining full control over all of Palestine, transferring, in increments, civil control over parts of Palestine and ending, in five years, with Israel withdrawing from all territory outside the 1967 borders.
During the five-year period Israel, while it transferred civic powers to the Palestinian authority in some parts of the occupied territory, it built, in defiance of International law, several Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. The five-year period ended a long time back. Several "peace talks" have been held and Palestinians attended all of them. There was even a Peace Plan offered to Israel by Saudi Arabia.
It is Israel that stubbornly refuses to vacate the illegally occupied territories.
The Palestinians rightly regard the agreement as a stab in the back.
The Palestinian Authority said that it "condemns and rejects" any normalization between Arab countries and Israel and that normalization with Israel "is in violation of the Arab summit resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative."
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