صلاح البندر/حزب الأمه أول تنظيم سودانى يتصل بإسرائيل

Israel's interest in Sudan increased considerably following Nasser's rise to power. The prospects of a joint
Anglo-Egyptian administration in the Sudan or the `Unity of the Nile Valley' alternative, as the Egyptians referred to their desire to incorporate Sudan into Egypt, were disquieting for the Israelis. For those Sudanese who did not subscribe to this slogan, which was propagated by the new Egyptian regime, ties with Israel seemed promising.
In an effort to avert unity with Egypt, representatives of the Ummah Party rushed to London and appealed to the British government to support them against Nasser. Prime Minister Anthony Eden's attitude toward the Sudan issue was reminiscent of former Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin, who several years earlier had told the House of Commons that `the British government would not appease Egypt at the expense of the Sudanese people'.(7) Eden's impression was that `The Sudanese desire for independence was deep and real; so was their suspicion of the Egyptians'. He seemed sympathetic to their demands, and in one of his discussions with Egyptian representatives he said, `we could not keep the Egyptian Government alive by feeding the Sudanese to them'.(8)
Eden's words had greatly encouraged the leaders of the Ummah Party, and when his hostility to the Egyptian leader who had planned to nationalize the Suez Canal seemed to have intensified, the party's leaders became confident in their ability to obtain Britain's support. As it turned out, however, Eden's words did not translate into action, and the response from the British Cabinet was less than encouraging. Both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office maintained a conciliatory posture and refused to alienate the Egyptian leader. However, the British MI6 intelligence services were more sympathetic to the Ummah Party. When the party's representatives said that they were willing to `join with the Devil' in order to stop Egyptian expansion, MI6 agents suggested that they turn to Israel for help. They were told that the point of contact was an Israeli diplomat named Mordecai Gazit, a veteran of the Political Department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry who was then the first secretary of the Israeli embassy in London. By then, Israel had already begun considering the possibility of negotiations with the Ummah Party, because its platform called for better relations with the Western countries and opposed close relations with Egypt.
Contacts between the two parties were made in September 1956, when an Israeli intelligence agent, Josh Palmon, held meetings in Istanbul with Ummah members. Palmon introduced Omar, one of the Ummah members to Ben-Gurion who expressed sympathy with the party's aims. Following the advice of the British intelligence agency, the Ummah members went to meet Gazit, who agreed to a meeting with Sadiq al-Mahdi. During these meetings both sides agreed to co-operate on various anti-Egyptian schemes. In addition, Israel offered to send experts to train the Sudanese to develop their cotton industry. The contacts continued in earnest in the following months, reaching their peak in August 1957, in the clandestine meeting at the Plaza Athenee Hotel in Pads, between Foreign Minister Golda Meir and Prime Minister Abdallah Khalil. However, the contacts came to an abrupt end when Khalil was overthrown.(9)