Forty years after historic visit to Israel by Egypt's Sadat, both countries further apart
When visiting Jerusalem 40 years ago, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat had a vision for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but he was led astray.
“We are turning Israel into a rising global power,” Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bragged on Nov. 13 in the Knesset plenary. “There has never been anything like this in our history.” Indeed, let us look at what Israel's illustrious statesman has done in just one week, as he outlined in his speech.
He met with an envoy of Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe who brought with him an invitation for Netanyahu to visit his country. He received a warm missive from “another friend,” US President Donald Trump, who thanked Israel for its support of his position on the Iranian nuclear program. Netanyahu received a congratulatory note from Chinese President Xi Jinping for the burgeoning special relationship with Israel. He also made preparations for a visit to India and spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In addition to all of the above, Netanyahu had time for a call to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to discuss “important security matters,” of course. What else could they talk about? A Palestinian state? Renewed negotiations with the Palestinians?
Netanyahu’s dialogue with Sisi was conducted over secure phone lines. Netanyahu and his ministers are not welcome in Egypt. It took the assassination of an Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, in November 1995, for an Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, to visit “unified” Jerusalem, to take part in the funeral. The Egyptian government is even refusing to dispatch a senior envoy to mark the 40th anniversary of the historic visit by President Anwar Sadat to Israel. His widow, Jehan Sadat, announced that she has no interest in taking part either. Israel will have to make do with the Egyptian ambassador, Hazem Khairat, at a Nov. 22 event at the official residence of President Reuven Rivlin.
In Israel’s view, Sadat was the first Arab leader in the modern era who came to the Jewish state bearing a message of peace. From Egypt’s perspective, Israel led Sadat astray, and he sold Israel peace with the largest Arab nation in return for a pittance. From the Palestinians' perspective, Sadat sold them out.
