Egypt–Israel peace treaty

The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty (Arabic: معاهدة السلام المصرية الإسرائيلية; transliterated: Mu`āhadat as-Salām al-Masrīyah al-'Isrā'īlīyah) (Hebrew: הסכם השלום בין ישראל למצרים; transliterated: Heskem HaShalom Bein Yisrael LeMitzraim) was signed in Washington, DC, United States, on March 26, 1979, following the Camp David Accords (1978). The main features of the treaty were the mutual recognition of each country by the other, the cessation of the state of war that had existed since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the complete withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the rest of the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had captured during the 1967 Six-Day War. The agreement also provided for the free passage of Israeli ships through the Suez Canal and recognition of the Strait of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba as international waterways.

Importance

• The agreement notably made Egypt the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. Jordan would follow in 1994 with the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

• The peace treaty was signed sixteen months after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's visit to Israel in 1977 after intense negotiation. Even after the landmark Camp David agreements, there was no certainty that a treaty would be signed. Egypt was under intense pressure from Arab countries and communist states, particularly Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia not to sign a separate peace treaty. Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin was refusing to allow any framework for realistic negotiations about Palestinian independence for autonomy.

• In a separate Israel-US Memorandum of Agreement, concluded on the same day, the United States spelled out its commitments to Israel in case the treaty was violated, the role of the UN and the future supply of military and economic aid to Israel. Egypt also subsequently received US military and financial aid.

• The treaty proposed a linkage between peace with Egypt and Palestinian autonomy, though the latter has not yet been implemented in practice.

See also

• Israel-Egypt Armistice Agreement
• Multinational Force and Observers
• Yamit
• Taba
• Anwar Sadat
• Menachem Begin
• Jimmy Carter

Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties

• Paris Peace Conference, 1919
• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919)
• 1949 Armistice Agreements
• Camp David Accords (1978)
• Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty (1979)
• Madrid Conference of 1991
• Oslo Accords (1993)
• Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace (1994)
• Camp David 2000 Summit
• Peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs
• List of Middle East peace proposals
• International law and the Arab-Israeli conflict

External links

• Text of the Treaty, at the site of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Text of the Treaty, at the site of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Crisis hurts Israeli-Egypt ties Sally Buzbee, Associated Press January 23, 2008