The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (80)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Chapter 3 The grace of Allah – Oil boom (17)

 

080 Yom Kippur War - Anwar Sadat appears (1/4)

Gamal Abdel Nasser was defeated by Israel in Six-Day War in 1967. He passed away by heart attack as incumbent Egyptian President in 1970. Anwar Sadat, the vice president, was the successor. Sadat was an ally of Nasser as a member of the Association of Free Officers who had overthrown King Faruq I. Nasser had been honored by Egyptian people as a charismatic leader. He was also a hero in the Arab world. In contrast Sadat was always behind Nasser. People looked down Sadat that he succeeded the presidency by chance. He was presumed as a short relief until someone else would overtake his post. But it became clear shortly that he was an excellent military strategist. He proved himself to be a politician with vision. He was a realist.

 

Arab world lost common goals after the Six-Day War. They devoted themselves in internal conflicts. Immediately after the war, communist regime was established in Southern Yemen supported by USSR in November 1967. The bloodless coup followed in Iraq in 1968. In Libya, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overthrew the Idris dynasty and grabbed the power in 1969. In September 1970, Jordanian government and the PLO fought each other fiercely and the PLO was deported to Beirut in Lebanon (so-called Black September). In Syria coup d'etat took place and Fafiz al-Assad was appointed as president in January, 1971.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)