{"id":11039,"date":"2023-05-25T15:41:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T07:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/?p=11039"},"modified":"2023-07-12T14:01:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T06:01:32","slug":"sudan-crisis-how-israel-stands-to-gain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/sudan-crisis-how-israel-stands-to-gain\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudan crisis: How Israel stands to gain"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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By Shady Ibrahim<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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After the fall of former\u00a0Sudanese<\/a>\u00a0President\u00a0Omar al-Bashir<\/a>\u00a0in 2019,\u00a0Israel<\/a>\u00a0emerged as a significant player in the North African country\u2019s transitional phase.\u00a0<\/p>

Israel has a strategic\u00a0interest<\/a>\u00a0in normalising relations with Sudan, as the Sudanese Red Sea coast is essential from a security and economic perspective. Sudan represents the heart of Africa, with deep extensions into the African continent thanks to its location, large geographical area and expansive borders.<\/p>

In the 1950s, Sudan occupied a pivotal position in Israel\u2019s \u201cperiphery doctrine<\/a>\u201d, which was developed as a counterbalance to an Arab region that was largely hostile towards the Israeli state. The doctrine involved forming alliances and building relationships with other Muslim nations. The\u00a0support<\/a>\u00a0provided by Israel to rebel movements in southern Sudan before its secession was a good example of this.<\/p>

Today, Washington has made openness and normalisation with Israel a standard for the strength of relations between the\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0and Arab states, especially during the\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0administration. This agenda, advanced by some regional countries, has pushed Sudanese actors to move towards the gateway of\u00a0normalisation<\/a>\u00a0with Israel in order to obtain international legitimacy.<\/p>

This has been evident in a number of recent developments, including the\u00a0February visit<\/a>\u00a0by Israel\u2019s foreign minister to Khartoum, where he met Sudanese military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok previously said that normalisation with Israel would require \u201cdeep discussion<\/a>\u201d among Sudanese society.<\/p>

It appears that Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as\u00a0Hemeti<\/a>, who leads the\u00a0Rapid Support Forces<\/a>\u00a0(RSF), was able to offer greater concessions, especially after signing a 2019 deal with a\u00a0lobbying firm<\/a>\u00a0founded by a former Israeli intelligence operative.\u00a0<\/p>

Hemeti has held meetings with Israeli intelligence, and in May 2022, a clandestine delegation\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0delivered advanced surveillance technology to the militia leader. The RSF has also expressed\u00a0support<\/a>\u00a0for the normalisation process and the signing of the Abraham Accords. Such moves aim to secure American and international support, despite the rejection of this approach by the Sudanese people.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Trade and security<\/strong><\/p>

Israel, meanwhile, seeks to position itself strategically in Sudan to bolster its own security and expand its regional influence, especially in Africa. It aims to\u00a0benefit<\/a>\u00a0from the long Red Sea coastline for trade, defence and security purposes, especially as a bulwark against\u00a0Iran<\/a>.<\/p>

Israel wants to curb Iran\u2019s expanding influence in the region, while halting human and arms\u00a0smuggling<\/a>\u00a0routes from Sudan to Gaza. Better relations with Sudan would also enhance Israel\u2019s ties with other African countries, helping it to gain access to African markets, especially after the\u00a0suspension<\/a>\u00a0of Israel\u2019s observer status in the African Union.<\/p>

In addition, intelligence-sharing on the movements of Palestinian and other resistance groups in North Africa could help Israel in its quest to undermine these organisations, mitigate anticipated threats and carry out preemptive strikes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Israel also views normalisation through an economic lens, seeking to open the door for investments in agriculture, mining and security<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Israel also views normalisation through an economic lens, seeking to open the door for investments in agriculture, mining and security, while enhancing its political and economic\u00a0interests<\/a>\u00a0in Ethiopia and across the Horn of Africa. Israel stands to benefit from the construction of the\u00a0Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam<\/a>, which has been a point of contention among\u00a0Egypt<\/a>, Sudan and Ethiopia.\u00a0<\/p>

Of Sudan\u2019s warring parties, the RSF aligns most closely with Israel\u2019s strategic interests and national goals. It has vowed to combat \u201cradical Islamists<\/a>\u201d and recently\u00a0removed<\/a>\u00a0the word \u201cal-Quds\u201d (Arabic for \u201cJerusalem\u201d) from its logo. On the other hand,\u00a0Islamists<\/a>\u00a0hold significant influence over the Sudanese army, which runs counter to Israeli interests. Sudan\u2019s regime openly supported Palestinian resistance movements in the past.\u00a0<\/p>

At the same time, the RSF\u2019s deployment in regional operations has proven effective, such as through its\u00a0support<\/a>\u00a0to warlord Khalifa Haftar in\u00a0Libya<\/a>. Furthermore, the RSF\u2019s involvement in gold\u00a0mining<\/a>\u00a0outside the state\u2019s control makes it easier for international powers to manipulate and direct the group to serve their interests and objectives.<\/p>

The clashes\u00a0between\u00a0the RSF and the Sudanese army\u00a0have spread chaos across Sudan, making it difficult to estimate the length of the path towards stability. With hundreds of thousands of people displaced, there\u00a0is also a risk of increasing waves of refugee migration as the conflict drags on.<\/p>

But this chaos will positively impact Israel by strategically and militarily\u00a0weakening Egypt<\/a>, which has had little influence over the course of events in Sudan.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Shady Ibrahim is a research associate at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. He tweets @shadyibrahim90<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Source: Middle East Eye<\/a>. 25 May 2023<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shady Ibrahim. After the fall of former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Israel emerged as a significant player in the North African country\u2019s transitional phase.  Israel has a strategic interest in normalising relations with Sudan, as the Sudanese Red Sea coast is essential from a security and economic perspective. Sudan represents the heart of Africa, with deep extensions into the African… Read More »Sudan crisis: How Israel stands to gain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,29,1],"tags":[45,39,271,232,52,530,49,56],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11039"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11039"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11058,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11039\/revisions\/11058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perdana4peace.org\/v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}