Palestinians say Sudan-Israel meeting 'a stab in the back'

The Palestinian leadership lashed out at Sudan on Monday, calling Sudanese interim leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda on Monday a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.

"This meeting is a stab in the back of the Palestinian people... at a time when the administration of (US) President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu are trying to liquidate the Palestinian cause," Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said in a statement published by official news agency WAFA.

The meeting was seen as a major step in normalising ties between the two countries.

Immediately after the meeting, Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying: "It has been agreed to start a cooperation that will lead to normalising the ties between the countries."

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"Prime Minister Netanyahu believes that Sudan is moving in a positive direction, and the prime minister has expressed his outlook to the American secretary of state”, Netanyahu’s government added.

“The head of Sudan's Sovereignty Council is interested in helping his country go through a process of modernisation by taking it out of isolation and placing it on the map."

Burhan, who currently serves as the head of Sudan's transitional ruling body, the Sovereign Council, is often held accountable for a massacre of peaceful Sudanese protesters in June 2019.

The military leader went to Uganda specifically to meet Netanyahu, who was there for a day-long diplomatic visit.

According to an Israeli source, the burgeoning relations will most likely affect the route of flights from Israel and enable aircrafts to fly over Sudan.

Israeli sources have also hinted that formally normalising ties with Sudan will help Israel in its attempts to deport asylum seekers from the African country who are currently seeking refuge in Israel.

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