If there has been one thing that President Donald Trump has achieved that few other US President’s have achieved then it must surely be the improvement in political relations in the Middle East. The Middle East has been scarred by war and conflict ever since the State of Israel was re-established in 1947. Not all of these conflicts have been of Israel’s making and the vast majority of these conflicts have been down to aggression from neighbouring Arab nations. The Arab-Israeli conflict has been one of the most intractable of our times and no matter how much Israel and its people have wanted peace or, as in the case of the Gaza Strip, surrendered land for peace, peace has not come.

Until now. Until the assenscion to the White House of the ultimate ‘non-political’ outsider Mr Donald Trump, American presidents were unable to use their not inconsiderable power to affect positive change in the Middle East region. Why there was this inability is complex but the foreign policy demands of the Cold War, the dominant position of Arab nations in oil production and Arab leaders who placed the needs of the Arabs who came under Israel’s rule after the Arabs lost a war above genuine peace, have all played their part in preventing American Presidents from helping to create peace.

But Donald J Trump has managed to succeed where others have failed. He has helped a number of Arab nations to come to an accommodation with Israel and recognise Israel’s right to exist. Donald Trump has used America’s new found power as an energy producer, the end of the final vestiges of the Cold War and the Arab world’s fear of the lunatics who run Iran, to the advantage of peace. He’s shown Arab leaders that Israel is not their enemy and that it is better to work with Israel than waste time and effort hating on the Israelis.

The latest stupendous achievement by President Trump is the improved diplomatic relations between Sudan of all places and Israel. Sudan used to be one of the worse Islamic hell holes on Earth. It was a place where major Islamic terrorists sheltered and which was governed by a horrific dictatorship. But Sudan has changed and part of that change is wanting to be less of a pariah state.

I was stunned to read in the Times of Israel of a peace agreement between Sudan and Israel. The Times of Israel said:

US President Donald Trump announced Friday that Sudan has agreed to make peace with Israel, making it the third Arab state to normalize ties as part of US-brokered deals since August.

During a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sudan Sovereign Council president General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, Trump brought reporters into the Oval Office and announced: “The State of Israel and the Republic of Sudan have agreed to make peace.”

A senior Trump aide, Judd Deere, specified that Sudan and Israel “have agreed to the normalization of relations.”

“This is one of the great days in the history of Sudan,” Trump said, adding: “For decades, Sudan has been at a state of war with Israel. They have… boycotted Israeli goods. There was no relationship whatsoever. Today’s peace agreement will enhance Israel’s security and end Sudan’s long isolation from the world.”

“For much of recent history, the people of Sudan were ruled over by brutal Islamic dictatorships,” Trump noted. “It was the home of Osama bin Laden, a place of terror, genocide, and many other tragedies.” Today, “new democracy is taking root” and “the Sudanese transitional government has demonstrated its commitment to combating terrorism.”

Maybe we could see a new dawn in Sudanese – Israeli relations with trade and mutual help being exchanged between them. Maybe Israel, who learned to make their deserts bloom, could bring what they’ve learned about agricultural technology to Sudan and even improve food security for the Sudanese people? I pray that it does. Donald Trump is not the Messiah, on the contrary he’s been a bit of too much of a naughty boy at times for that, but he is way way ahead of any other recent US President in how he has managed and intervened in the Middle East situation. I very much doubt that Hilary Clinton would have achieved what Mr Trump has achieved and I don’t believe that Joe Biden is a skilled enough diplomat nor be the sort of dealmaker that was required to achieve what Mr Trump has achieved.