In the mid-1950s Israel looked for ways to break the isolation imposed by its neighbours. One direction was Sudan, then approaching independence, whose leaders feared Egypt’s ambitions to dominate it. According to a study by the historians Elie Podeh and Andrew Felsenthal, Gazit, then first secretary at the Israeli embassy in London, was involved in the first phase of the secret contacts with members of Sudan’s Umma party. According to the study, on 17 June 1954 he and Michael Arnon met Sudanese representatives in London.
The contacts were meant to lay the groundwork for the southern tier of the “Periphery Alliance”, with Ethiopia and Sudan, against Nasser’s Egypt. According to the study, the British Foreign Office was not enthusiastic about an Israeli–Sudanese connection. The tie lasted until Sudan’s 1958 military coup, which ended it. It is an early appearance of something that would accompany Gazit throughout his career: quiet work in unofficial channels.[PF1]