{"id":23543,"date":"2019-03-29T16:26:06","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T14:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=23543"},"modified":"2019-03-29T16:26:06","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T14:26:06","slug":"the-israeli-egyptian-peace-40-years-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onisilos.gr\/?p=23543","title":{"rendered":"The Israeli-Egyptian Peace: 40 Years On"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 26, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

By <\/b>Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,123, March 26, 2019<\/span><\/p>\n

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:<\/b> In stark contrast to the extraordinary vision and courage displayed by PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in signing the peace treaty 40 years ago, the Palestinian leadership emerges as staunchly rejectionist and a serial squanderer of opportunities for peace. One can only hope that the Arab regimes, which appear increasingly reluctant to remain hostage to Palestinian rejectionism, will be courageous enough to follow in Sadat\u2019s visionary footsteps.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This week will mark the 40th anniversary of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. The treaty was accompanied by the framework agreements that were signed at Camp David in September 1978 with the mediation of then-US President Jimmy Carter. Israeli PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat undoubtedly displayed rare diplomatic vision and political courage in their approach to resolving the conflict. On the Arab spectrum, Egypt stood out as a path-breaking state compared to the Palestinian leadership, which, since that time, has missed opportunities for peace over and over again.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his memoirs, Carter recounts that he sent emissaries to Yasser Arafat and to the PLO in an effort to persuade them to join Sadat\u2019s initiative and the peace summit at Camp David. Sadat, too, tried to convince Arafat to join the peace initiative both before and after his historic visit to Jerusalem. The Palestinians refused. In an interview to the newspaper Al-Hawadat <\/i>on December 30, 1977, only a month after his visit to Jerusalem, Sadat pointed to the Palestinians\u2019 rejectionism and said their insistence on getting all or nothing had led them, since the days of the British Mandate, to squander every opportunity for a compromise. Sadat also quoted Iraqi King Faisal, who remarked that \u201cthe Palestinians don\u2019t want a solution at all.\u201d Egyptian FM Boutros Ghali, later the UN Secretary General, likewise said at the time that \u201cthe exaggerated concern with the Palestinian issue must be stopped once and for all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sadat did not ignore the Palestinian problem. On the contrary: he dealt with it courageously, as is evident from his speeches and from the Framework Agreement for Peace he signed with Israel in September 1978. That agreement sought to advance the Palestinians\u2019 interest by offering a five-year autonomy plan for the West Bank and Gaza, after which a permanent settlement would be formulated (though the sides did not agree that the permanent settlement would necessarily lead to a Palestinian state).<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet it was proved time after time that Abba Eban\u2019s maxim, according to which \u201cthe Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,\u201d is a factual description of the reality. Palestinian textbooks make almost no mention of the Camp David Accords, and the Palestinian media portray Sadat as a traitor to the Arab cause. In its fourth national conference, held in Lebanon on April 28, 1981, after the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty had been implemented, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine \u2013 the second most important organization in the PLO \u2013 passed a resolution opposing the Camp David peace initiative (i.e., Begin\u2019s autonomy plan) because accepting it would have meant the end of the Palestinian problem. Similar resolutions were passed by Fatah and remain in force today. Since rejecting the Israeli-Egyptian peace, and despite entering the \u201cpeace\u201d process in the context of the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian leadership has managed to rebuff the proposals of five Israeli PMs \u2013 including Benjamin Netanyahu in his famous Bar-Ilan speech \u2013 on establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza and most of the West Bank.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lately, the heads of the Arab states have appeared less and less willing to remain hostage to Palestinian rejectionism. One can only hope that many of them will walk the brave and visionary path that President Sadat charted 40 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

*Shaul Bartal is a research associate<\/i> at<\/i> the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

source:https:\/\/besacenter.org\/perspectives-papers\/israel-egypt-peace-40-years\/<\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 26, 2019 By Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,123, March 26, 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In stark contrast to the extraordinary vision and courage … <\/p>\n

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