Trump announces deal between Sudan and Israel

President Donald J. Trump addresses his remarks prior to signing an Executive Order on Hiring American Monday, August 3, 2020, in the Cabinet Room of the White House. (Official White House photo by Tia Dufour)

Sudan and Israel have reached an agreement to normalize ties, President Trump announced Friday.

It is the third Arab state this year to engage in U.S.-brokered talks that have resulted in peace agreements.

Earlier deals were announced between Bahrain and Israel, and the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

The deals with Israel are the first since Egypt and Jordan recognized the state of Israel decades ago.

Fox News reported the deal follows Trump's conditional agreement this week to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism if it compensats American victims of terror attacks.

NEW: Israel and Sudan to normalize ties, President Trump announces from the White House

— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) October 23, 2020

When the Bahrain agreement was announced, Trump said, "This is really something special, very, very special."

He predicted the region "will become more secure and prosperous."

Trump confirmed Friday that a number of other nations have expressed interest in peace deals with Israel.

When Trump announced the UAE deal, his competitor for the Oval Office, Joe Biden said the normalization of relations was a positive development for the region.

The agreements align with the advice of the editor of a prominent Saudi daily, who argued that past Arab efforts to defeat Israel have failed, and they must normalize relations.

Khalid bin Hamad Al-Malik, the editor of Al-Jazirah, wrote Sept. 13 -- two days before the Israel-UAE-Bahrain peace deals -- that the Arab nations must move forward on an open path, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

"The Arabs have no option but to normalize [relations] and establish full diplomatic ties with Israel. They tried war and were defeated; they tried hostility towards Israel and gained nothing; they tried to reconcile [with Israel] on their own terms and failed," he wrote.

"Finally they tried peace as a way to achieve what they have failed to achieve through war."

He said he agrees "with certain Palestinian leaders who said that the Palestinian cause is their affair and not the affair of the Arabs, and that they, the Palestinians, are responsible for establishing their state in all the Palestinian territories through armed struggle."

"This is [precisely] why the Arabs are entitled to normalize relations with Israel and establish full ties with it, for the Palestinians have already shouldered the responsibility of regaining their legitimate rights and establishing a state with Jerusalem as its capital, and have no need of the Arabs who have normalized their relations with Israel," wrote Malik.

The editor affirmed the Trump administration's indication that many more Middle East nations are on the verge of peace agreements with Israel.

"Other Arab countries can be expected to follow in the UAE's and Bahrain's footsteps and recognize Israel," he wrote.