Sudan planned for normalising Israel ties

Sudan told US officials of its desire to normalise ties with Israel, a leaked diplomatic cable said, in a potentially embarrassing revelation for one of the Jewish state's more outspoken critics.
Mustafa Osman Ismail, a senior adviser to President Omar al-Bashir, said one aspect of proposed cooperation with the United States included normalising Sudan's relations with Israel.
Ismail had told then US charge d'affaires, Alberto Fernandez, according to the cable dated July 29, 2008, that Khartoum had drafted a strategy for working with the United States.
The cable was sent some two months after the United States suspended talks on normalising relations with Sudan, partly because of the lack of a resolution with the south on the disputed region of Abyei.
Israel has long accused Khartoum of serving as a base for militants from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
In his meeting with Fernandez, Ismail expressed his frustration at the breakdown in US-Sudanese bilateral talks, despite Khartoum being "so cooperative and flexible during negotiations."