(contents)
Chapter 4: War and Peace in The Middle
East (2)
088 Short holidays : Peace between Israel
and Egypt (2/3)
For realist Sadat, cease-fire was favorable. Some of other Arab leaders still kept crying out the reckless cheer saying "Let Israel down to the Mediterranean!". But the Arab ordinary citizens felt it was a nonsense pipe dream. President Anwar Sadat shared the same feeling with ordinary citizens. Wise army officers always look at the reality. A leader who made speech with ecstasy would be defeated by enemy soon or later. it was acceptable if he stepped down from the stage by himself. But it would be the tragedy if thousands of soldiers had to die to make one hero. Sadat was a wise man with common sense.
Anwar Sadat changed his
policy towards the United States after the Ramadan War, while his predecessor
Gamal Nasser had been a close friend with the USSR. Henry Kissinger, Advisor
for National Security and later Secretary of State of the US
, deployed Detente foreign
policy under the presidency of Nixon and his successor Gerald Ford Jr. By
Détente policy the reconciliation between the US and China was realized and the
Vietnam war was over. Momentum for the peace was born all over the world.
Sadat planned to improve
relationship with Israel. In 1977 he suddenly visited Israel. In 1978 the
Democratic’s idealist James Carter took office as US President. By the change
of US regime from the pro-Israel Republican Party to the liberal Democratic Party,
peace between Egypt and Israel has been realized. President Carter invited two
leaders of Egypt and Israel to Camp David in Washington in 1978. Both leaders
signed a historical peace treaty. Accordingly, the Sinai Peninsula, where
Israel occupied since the Six-Day War, was returned to Egypt.
In 1978, Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Beguin were honored to
receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. Sadat was the first Arab
recipient since the Nobel Peace Prize began in 1901.
(To be continued ----)
(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)
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