Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that the initiative of late president Anwar El-Sadat to reach a peace deal with Israel reflected his ability to move beyond the entrenched ideas and policies of his era.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that the initiative of late president Anwar El-Sadat to reach a peace deal with Israel reflected his ability to move beyond the entrenched ideas and policies of his era.
The president made the comments during a cultural symposium titled ‘October 1973: Crossing to the Future’, which was organised by the Armed Forces in celebration of the 48th anniversary of the 1973 October War.
El-Sisi said that in Sadat's time, the idea that the Arab world would be in a perpetual state of war with Israel was thought to be the norm, "and anything else was abnormal."
In 1979, sponsored by US president Jimmy Carter, Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel, a year after the two sides signed the Camp David Accords, which represented a milestone in the negotiations.
El-Sisi urged leaders and officials in the region to follow Sadat's example and move beyond entrenched ideas.
More than 40 years later, Sadat’s evaluation has proven to be “far ahead of its time,” the president said.
“I think All Mighty God enabled El-Sadat to see that these concepts would not last after the October War, and that they must be replaced by new concepts,” El-Sisi said.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Minister of Defence Mohamed Zaki were among the army commanders, ministers, state officials, and media personnel who attended the event.
Egypt achieved victory in the October 1973 war against Israel, paving the way for the return of the occupied Sinai Peninsula after a peace deal was signed with Israel.
The war eventually led to Israeli forces withdrawing from the Sinai Peninsula on 25 April 1982, after 15 years of occupation, based on a peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
El-Sisi hailed El-Sadat as a “great man who took the decision [to go to war] and shouldered its responsibility before God and history” despite the disparity between the Egyptian and Israeli armies’ capabilities at the time.
The president paid tribute to the Egyptian people and army as well as the Arab countries that supported Egypt after its defeat in the 1967 War, saying their support was a major reason for the October War victory.
“Egypt did not stand alone in its battle; its Arab brothers were there and supported it with men, weapons and money,” the president said.
He also hailed the Arab countries’ support for Egypt since the 30 June Revolution in 2013.
El-Sisi said that Egypt has also constructed the wastewater treatment plant of Bahr Al-Baqqar, the site of an Israeli massacre of 19 Egyptian primary school students in the Nile Delta 1970. The plant was built thanks to long-term soft loans from the Saudi, Kuwaiti and Emirati funds.
El-Sisi also paid tribute to the people of Sinai for their role and support of the Egyptian Armed Forces against the Israeli occupation of the peninsula (1967-1981), saying development in the peninsula will cover all of Sinai and in various fields.
“We will not leave any part of Sinai without developing it… tourism, agriculture, industry, mining and others,” El-Sisi said.
“Sinai is Egyptian land. We seek with all our power to develop all of the lands of Egypt,” El-Sisi stressed.
The president urged citizens, the army, and all state institutions to act “as one man” against “the continuous attempts to divide and sow discord among us.”
El-Sisi also warned against the “atypical wars that seek to destroy nations from inside,” adding that raising the public's awareness has become the country's most important task and the responsibility of all state institutions and civil society.
The president called for continuing all efforts to develop the nation, saying "Egypt has found the way for development and progress that is fitting with its history and civilisation."
“Let us move forward together with strength and determination to build and develop our nation despite the growing internal and external challenges we face, especially in our turbulent and complicated regional surroundings and unprecedented international crises… especially the coronavirus pandemic,” El-Sisi said.
The president highlighted Egypt’s strenuous efforts to establish a modern state and the “new republic” he announced last July.
“We have started a comprehensive, in-depth operation to formulate the desired future for our dear nation and current and future generations based on integrated and harmonious teamwork among all state agencies and also based on a well-informed vision and specific goals,” El-Sisi said.
The president added that the state seeks to achieve these goals during the current decade under Egypt’s Vision 2030.
El-Sisi said the development efforts in the nation have touched all aspects of life without exception to maximise the state’s capabilities in all fields and achieve a better future for the country and citizens.
On Tuesday, El-Sisi laid wreaths at the Unknown Soldier Memorial in Cairo as well as at the tombs of former presidents Gamal Abdel-Nasser and El-Sadat ahead of the October War anniversary.
Wednesday’s symposium witnessed a contribution by Major General Samir Farag, the former head of the Army Morale Affairs Department, who hailed the bravery of the Egyptian soldier in the October war.
Mofid Shehab, a member of the Taba National Committee and a member of its judicial defence panel before the International Court of Arbitration, also spoke about the struggle to restore Taba to Egyptian sovereignty, as the last part of Sinai to be liberated from the Israeli occupation in 1989.
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