Israel Matzav

Sadat's death was a prelude

In the Toronto Sun, columnist Salim Mansur tells us why then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was murdered twenty-five years ago on Friday: he made peace with Israel. By the way, while I strongly believe that the 'peace' with Egypt is a farce today, I believe just as strongly that had Sadat lived, things would have been different.

But as dictators go in the Arab-Muslim world, Sadat was relatively benign. His great crime, for which he paid with his life, was being open to Israel after having waged war with the Jewish state.

In November 1977, Sadat reached out to Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and traveled to Jerusalem. It took the world by surprise, and stunned the political leaders and people of the Middle East who denounced Sadat and expelled Egypt from the Arab League.

Awoke to reality

In his memoir, Search of Identity, Sadat explained his motive. He awoke to the reality, as he described it, that peace in the region required scaling the walls that enclosed Arabs and Israelis in a relationship of mutual distrust, fear and hate. He had waged war boldly for Arab honour, he said, and would strive for peace for the children of Arabs and Jews with no less courage.

Sadat's gesture in speaking directly to Israelis was reciprocated by Begin. It reflected the deep yearning of Israelis, despite the brutal surprise on their high holiday when Sadat launched the Yom Kippur War, for peace after a generation of conflict with their Arab neighbours.

Sadat's embrace of Begin culminated in the Camp David Accord of 1978 between Egypt and Israel,, brokered by U.S. President Carter and signed in Washington. Sadat implored Yasser Arafat, then leader of the PLO, to join the Camp David negotiations and settle with Israelis according to requirements of the UN Resolution 242 of November 1967.

Israel withdrew from Sinai, which it had occupied since the June 1967 war. In 1978, the situation in the West Bank and Gaza was entirely different from what would emerge later as a result of the Jewish settler movement. Begin could have reached an agreement with Palestinians, as Sadat and Carter indicated, if Arafat had been willing to follow the example set by Egypt's president.

Arafat rejoiced

But Arafat, brutal and corrupt, turned his back on Sadat and rejoiced at his murder, declaring his killers to be Arab heroes.

Read it all.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:23 PM