On November 20, 1977, then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat addressed the Israeli parliament in what is considered a watershed moment in the Jewish state’s history.
His call for peace with Israel turned on its head the conflict with the Arab world that to that point had played out in four major wars – in 1948, 1956, 1967 and just a few years earlier, in 1973.
In all of these conflagrations, Egypt played a leading role as the region’s most populous and important country and thus the torch-bearer of Arab nationalism, the predominant political system in the Middle East at the time.
Less than two years after Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem – on March 26, 1979 – he and then-Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin shook hands on the White House lawn following the signing a formal treaty brokered by former U.S. president Jimmy Carter.
While the agreement has resulted only in “cold” peace, its significance cannot be overstated given the bloody backdrop on which it was forged and when considering that no conventional war has since been fought between Israel and any Arab nation.
The Media Line discussed the accord’s upcoming 40th anniversary with former Israeli ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel.
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