The Yom Kippur War and peace with Egypt
Egypt and Syria launch a surprise attack on Yom Kippur; Israel recovers at great cost, and the shock opens the way to Sadat's visit to Jerusalem, Camp David and the first Arab–Israeli peace treaty.
- The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East — Abraham Rabinovich, Schocken (2004)
- Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David — Lawrence Wright, Alfred A. Knopf (2014)
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
- Israel: A History — Anita Shapira, Brandeis University Press (2012)
- Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to the Muslim Brotherhood — Tarek Osman, Yale University Press (2013)
On 6 October 1973, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, Egypt and Syria attacked. Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal and Syrian tanks pushed into the Golan Heights; Israel’s intelligence had dismissed the warning signs. Reservists were called from synagogues. After days of desperate fighting, and with a US airlift of arms, Israel pushed back, crossed the canal and was near Damascus and Cairo when a ceasefire took hold. About 2,700 Israeli soldiers were killed, a huge toll for a small country.
- The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East — Abraham Rabinovich, Schocken (2004)
- Israel: A History — Anita Shapira, Brandeis University Press (2012)
In November 1977 Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat flew to Jerusalem and addressed the Knesset, a moment Israelis who lived through it still describe as unbelievable. In September 1978 Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, mediated by Jimmy Carter, agreed the Camp David Accords, and on 26 March 1979 they signed a peace treaty. Israel returned all of Sinai by 1982, removing its settlements there.
- Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David — Lawrence Wright, Alfred A. Knopf (2014)
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
- Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David — Lawrence Wright, Alfred A. Knopf (2014)
A near-catastrophe caused by complacency and intelligence failure, turned around by reservists' sacrifice. The peace with Egypt showed that Israel would give up land, all of Sinai, for real peace.
- The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East — Abraham Rabinovich, Schocken (2004)
- Israel: A History — Anita Shapira, Brandeis University Press (2012)
The October War, or Ramadan War, restored Arab pride by crossing the Suez Canal and breaking the myth of Israeli invincibility, which made an honourable peace possible.
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
Camp David was a separate peace that took Egypt out of the conflict and offered Palestinians only limited "autonomy" without the PLO or a state; Egypt was suspended from the Arab League.
- The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood — Rashid Khalidi, Beacon Press (2006)
- Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David — Lawrence Wright, Alfred A. Knopf (2014)
Sadat won back every inch of Sinai, something no other Arab leader managed, and spared Egypt more wars. Yet for many Egyptians the treaty is a necessity, not a friendship: they refuse normal social and cultural ties with Israel while the Palestinian question is unresolved, and some still see Camp David as a separate peace that broke Arab ranks.
- Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to the Muslim Brotherhood — Tarek Osman, Yale University Press (2013)
- The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World — Avi Shlaim, W. W. Norton (2014)
Why it matters today
The 1973 "mehdal" (failure) shattered post-1967 confidence and toppled Golda Meir; Israelis compared it to 7 October fifty years later almost to the day. The peace with Egypt that followed has held for over four decades and is proof to many that land for peace can work.
Egyptians call it the October War, and 6 October is a national holiday celebrating the crossing of the Suez Canal and the storming of the Bar-Lev Line, the moment national pride was restored after 1967. The peace with Israel that followed recovered Sinai and has held, but most Egyptians never embraced it; it remains a cold peace between states rather than peoples.