Normalization is the New Normal

Months after Israel’s and the United Arab Emirates’s Abraham Accords, normalization seems to be the new normal of the Middle East. Following the UAE, Israel and Bahrain established normalization ties mid-September, and just this week Israel and Sudan agreed on terms for normalization. The decision came after a covert delegation made up of US and Israeli officials flew to Sudan this past Wednesday for talks with Sudanese officials on the 2nd known direct flight between the two countries.

While not among the members of the US delegation to Sudan, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented on the event saying that he hoped normalization would happen quickly. “We are working diligently with them to make the case for why that’s in the Sudanese government’s best interest to make that sovereign decision,” he said, “We hope that they’ll do that, and we hope that they’ll do that quickly.” In return for normalization, the United States has begun the process in Congress of removing Sudan from the state sponsored terrorist blacklist. 

In related news, the Bahrain and Israeli governments have finally inked an agreement on flights between the countries a month after normalization, which will undoubtedly bring tremendous economic growth to both countries. Commenting on this aspect of the historic agreement, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “This is what real peace looks like: peace for peace, economy for economy.” Flights are expected to begin shortly, with up to 14 weekly flights between the countries and 5 weekly cargo shipments between them too.