US President Donald Trump’s latest deal has been hailed as “a dramatic breakthrough for peace” but there was an awkward moment during the announcement.
US President Donald Trump has announced that Sudan will normalise relations with Israel – the third such deal his administration has brokered in recent months.
Mr Trump invited reporters inside the Oval Office today as he officially sealed the agreement on a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
“The state of Israel and the Republic of Sudan have agreed to make peace,” Mr Trump said.
Sudan’s commitment to normalise relations follows similar agreements involving Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, both of which were also reached with help from the US.
But this one is arguably more significant. Unlike those nations, Sudan was technically still at war with Israel, making this a genuine peace deal.
The President said he expected more countries to reach similar deals in the coming months.
“There are many, many more coming,” he said.
Mr Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, told Reuters it was “obviously a great breakthrough” and the start of a “paradigm shift” in the Middle East.
“Getting peace agreements done is not as easy as we are making them look right now. They are very hard to do,” said Mr Kushner.
Read the article by Sam Clench in the Herald Sun.