Israel said on Tuesday it would resume relations with Chad, which were halted in 1972, after Chadian President Idriss Deby made a surprise visit to Jerusalem this week.
Following Deby’s two-day visit, Israel said in a statement published by Reuters that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would “visit Chad soon and announce, with the Chadian president, the renewal of ties”.
The statement did not mention, however, any specific date for the visit.
Netanyahu and Deby met in Jerusalem and “discussed common threats and the fight against terrorism” as well as cooperation in agriculture, solar energy, water security and health, according to the Israeli premier’s office.
Netanyahu described the resumption of relations with Chad as an example of Israel’s ability to achieve “diplomatic victories” in Africa and the Middle East, despite its conflict with the Palestinians.
Meanwhile, Fatah and Hamas criticized on Tuesday the visit of the Chadian president to Israel. The German News Agency reported that a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Mohammad Ashtiyeh, told the official Palestinian radio that the visit was “an unacceptable move, which increases the Palestinian people’s deception.”
Hamas Spokesman Fawzi Barhoum rejected the “normalization of relations” with Israel, and called for the cessation of these dangerous policies. Barhoum urged the international community to support the Palestinian people and to “maintain the policy of boycotting and isolating the Israeli entity, the biggest threat to the whole region.”
In the same context, the Palestinian Authority is working to hold an emergency meeting of the Arab League and a conference of Islamic countries to discuss the issue of “normalization” with Israel.
Nabil Shaath, adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “The leadership is monitoring developments in Israeli diplomatic relations, which contradict the decisions of the Arab League and the Islamic Summit.”
“There is a series of Arab and Islamic resolutions and declarations explicitly stating that there will be no normalization process with Israel without reaching an agreement on the Palestinian issue, on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative and the resolutions of the international community,” he added.
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