| Peace Treaty Between the State of Israel and the Arab Republic of Egypt | |
|---|---|
_-_USNWR.jpg) Sadat, Carter and Begin at the signing ceremony | |
| Type | Peace treaty |
| Signed | 26 March 1979 (1979-03-26) |
| Location | Washington, D.C., US |
| Effective | January 1980 |
| Signatories | |
| Depositary | Secretary-General of the United Nations |
| Citations | UNTS 17813 |
| Language | English |
TheEgypt–Israel peace treaty[1] was signed inWashington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the 1978Camp David Accords. The Egypt–Israel treaty was signed byAnwar Sadat,President of Egypt, andMenachem Begin,Prime Minister of Israel, and witnessed byJimmy Carter,President of the United States.[2]
The peace treaty betweenEgypt andIsrael was signed 16 months after Egyptian presidentAnwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in 1977, after intense negotiations. The main features of the treaty were mutual recognition, cessation of the state of war that had existed since the1948 Arab–Israeli War, normalization of relations and the withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from theSinai Peninsula, which Israel had captured during theSix-Day War in 1967. Egypt agreed to leave the Sinai Peninsula demilitarized. The agreement provided for free passage of Israeli ships through theSuez Canal, and recognition of theStrait of Tiran and theGulf of Aqaba as international waterways, which had been blockaded by Egypt in 1967. The agreement also called for an end to Israeli military rule over theIsraeli-occupied territories and the establishment of full autonomy for the Palestinian inhabitants of the territories, terms that were not implemented but which became the basis for theOslo Accords.
The agreement notably made Egypt the first Arab state to officially recognize Israel,[2] although it has been described as a "cold peace".[3]
The normalization of relations between Israel and Egypt went into effect in January 1980. Ambassadors were exchanged in February. Theboycott laws were repealed by Egypt's parliament the same month, and some trade began to develop, albeit less than Israel had hoped for. In March 1980 regular airline flights were inaugurated. Egypt also began supplying Israel with crude oil.[4]
On 18 May 1981, thePresident of the United Nations Security Council indicated that the UN would be unable to provide an observation force, due to the threat of a veto of the motion by theSoviet Union. As a result of the impasse, Egypt, Israel and the United States opened negotiations to set up a peacekeeping organization outside the framework of the UN. On 3 August 1981, the Protocol to the Treaty of Peace was signed, establishing theMultinational Force and Observers (MFO).[5] This observation force monitors both parties to ensure compliance with the treaty.
The peace treaty includes a stipulation, called the Agreed Activities Mechanism, that allows Egypt and Israel to jointly alter the arrangements of Egyptian troops in the Sinai without having to officially review the treaty itself. Israel has allowed Egypt to deploy forces to central and eastern Sinai out of mutual security concerns, such as the presence ofjihadi militant groups in these areas. These alterations are coordinated through the MFO.[6]
In January 2011, during widespreadprotests by Egyptians against their government, Israel agreed to allow Egypt to move several hundred troops into the Sinai Peninsula for the first time since the peace treaty was signed.[7] With Israel's agreement, Egypt moved two battalions, about 800 soldiers, into the Sharm el-Sheikh area on Sinai's southern tip, far from Israel.[7]
In August 2012, Israel agreed that Egypt could deploy additional forces, including attack helicopters, in the northern Sinai to combat militants who had carried out an attack on Egyptian border guards that left 16 dead.[8][9] Later that month, Egypt moved additional heavy weaponry into the demilitarized zone without Israeli approval, in violation of the peace treaty terms.[9][10] Egypt said that the deployment of these troops and weapons was in keeping with agreements reached with Israel in 2011.[10] Israel reportedly asked the United States to mediate this dispute.[10] Shortly thereafter, Egyptian defense ministerAbdel Fattah el-Sisi reportedly assured his Israeli counterpart,Ehud Barak, that Egypt was committed to maintaining the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel.[11]
In July 2013, after a number of violent incidents in the Sinai Peninsula, Israel agreed to the deployment of additional Egyptian troops.[12]
During the wars that pitted Egypt against Israel, the Egyptian government closed theSuez Canal on two separate occasions (between 1956 and 1957 andbetween 1967 and 1975), with severe economic repercussions for local commerce and global trade alike. The Egypt–Israel peace treaty thus also aimed to avoid further crises involving the key waterway in the future. According to the treaty's fifth article, Israeli ships and ships destined to or coming from Israel are entitled to the right of free passage through the Suez Canal and the neighboring areas (theGulf of Suez and theMediterranean Sea) on the basis of theConstantinople Convention of 1888. Both Egypt and Israel agreed to recognize theStrait of Tiran and theGulf of Aqaba as being international waterways, where any nation may enjoy freedom of navigation and overflight.[13] In order to facilitate this process, international peacekeeping forces were deployed to the Suez Canal by theUnited Nations. Later, these were replaced by theMultinational Force and Observers (MFO), which remains active to this day.[5]
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This treaty was received with enormous controversy across theArab world, where it was condemned and considered a stab in the back. The sense of outrage was particularly strong amongst Palestinians, with the leader of thePalestine Liberation Organization,Yasser Arafat, stating: "Let them sign what they like. False peace will not last".[14] On the other hand, the treaty led both Egyptian presidentAnwar Sadat and Israeli prime ministerMenachem Begin to share the 1978Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace between the two states. In order to regain legitimacy in the eyes of the otherMuslim-majority countries after the peace treaty with Israel, Egypt appealed to Islamic justifications based on thesacred scriptures of Islam to facilitate its efforts to describe its innovative peace policy, and simultaneously to refute the anti-peace campaign led byIslamist organizations in theArab world and the Middle East.[15]
However, as a result of the treaty, Egypt was suspended from theArab League in 1979–1989,[16] andSadat was assassinated on 6 October 1981 by members of theEgyptian Islamic Jihad.[17] Syrian PresidentHafez al-Assad severed all relations with Egypt after the signing of the peace deal, anddiplomatic relations were not re-established until 2005, when Egypt once again enjoyed warm relations with Syria under the rule ofBashar al-Assad.
The peace between Egypt and Israel has lasted since the treaty went into effect, and Egypt has become an important strategic partner of Israel.Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former Israeli defense minister known for his close ties to Egyptian officials, has stated that "Egypt is not only our closest friend in the region, the co-operation between us goes beyond the strategic."[3]
As part of the agreement, the U.S. beganeconomic and military aid to Egypt, and political backing for its subsequent governments. From the Camp David peace accords in 1978 until 2000, the United States has subsidized Egypt's armed forces with over $38 billion worth of aid. Egypt receives about $1.3 billion annually.[18]
Nevertheless, the peace is often described as a "cold peace",[3] with many in Egypt skeptical about its effectiveness.[19][20] The Arab-Israeli conflict has kept relations cool.[21]
TheEgyptian revolution of 2011 led to fears in Israel about the future of the treaty,[22] although the Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu stated that he expected any new Egyptian government to keep the peace treaty with Israel, as it has served both countries well.[23] After the Egyptian Army took power on 11 February 2011, it announced that Egypt would continue to abide by all its international and regional treaties.[24] However,Ayman Nour, an influential Egyptian opposition figure and likely presidential candidate called for Cairo's peace treaty with Israel to be "reassessed".[25] On 15 September 2011, the then Egyptian prime ministerEssam Sharaf said that "A peace deal with Israel was not sacred".[26]Rashad al-Bayumi, the deputy chief of Egypt's largest party, theMuslim Brotherhood, said that they would not recognize Israel and that the treaty could be put to a referendum, emphasizing that while they respected all of theirinternational agreements, they "had the right to review the peace deal" and that the Egyptian people "have yet to speak their mind". Representatives of the group had told U.S. diplomats that they did not intend to revoke the treaty.[27]
Addressing Israeli concerns on 31 July 2014, Egyptian presidentAbdel Fattah el-Sisi pledged to continue the peace with Israel.[28]
During theGaza War of 2023–2025, Israel violated the treaty by taking control of thePhiladelphi Corridor.[29] Israel stated thatHamas had been smuggling weapons through the corridor.[30] Egypt denied this claim and also rejected the appointment of a new Israeli ambassador in September 2024.[31]
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