Sudan and Kuwait could soon follow the UAE and Bahrain in establishing peace agreements with Israel.
Sudan is set to become the next Muslim-majority country to normalize ties, Israeli media has reported, citing unnamed Sudanese officials.
According to the report, the normalization will be high on the agenda at an Abu Dhabi meeting set for this week between Sudanese, American and Emirati officials.
As part of the agreement with Israel, Sudan is seeking financial assistance from Washington, as well as to be removed from a U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, the report said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that Kuwait will most likely be the next Arab-majority country in the Middle East to normalize ties with Israel, making the prediction at a White House press briefing hours after meeting with Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, the son of Kuwait’s ruling emir.
The Kuwaitis “are so excited that we signed the first two countries and I think they’ll end up fairly quickly being a part of it,” Trump said, referring to Bahrain and the UAE.
Saudi Arabia may also announce normalization with Israel soon, possibly before the U.S. presidential election, a senior Israeli official told Israel Hayom.
Trump said something similar at his remarks at the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House. After the ceremony, he spoke with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, and said he expected the Saudis to normalize with Israel soon.
However, the Saudi government insisted it would stand alongside the Palestinian people.
In an official statement, the Saudi government said it “supported all efforts aimed at reaching a just, comprehensive solution that will allow the Palestinian people to establish an independent state along the 1967 borders.”
The Israeli diplomat’s comments appear to contradict what a number of Arab diplomats have recently told Israel Hayom.
One diplomat said this week that despite the central role Saudi Arabia played in the normalization process, Arab diplomats nearly all believed that the Saudis would not normalize with Israel themselves, mostly because of their commitment to the Saudi peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.
“The Saudis will not turn their backs on the peace initiative they conceived. Saudi Arabia will not normalize with Israel, at least not as long as King Salman is alive. After that, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman will find a way to reach a [peace] deal with Israel. Unlike his father, he is not obligated to the Palestinians,” the diplomat emphasized.
Trump claimed earlier this week that more countries in the region were eager to establish ties with the Jewish state, noting there are at least “seven or eight countries that want to be a part of it.”
He added, “Nobody thought this would happen, and not only is it happening, it’s happening rather easily.”
