in Cairo, 1971 (sitting on the right side) and
Muammar Gaddafi (sitting in the centre) signing the
Federation of Arab Republics in Benghazi, Libya, on April 18, 1971 Some of the major events of Sadat's presidency were his "Corrective Revolution" to consolidate power in 1971, the break with Egypt's long-time ally and aid-giver the
USSR, the
Yom Kippur War with Israel, the
Camp David Accords and the
Egypt–Israel peace treaty, the "opening up" (or
Infitah) of Egypt's economy, and lastly his assassination in 1981. Sadat succeeded Nasser as president after the latter's death in October 1970. Sadat's presidency was widely expected to be short-lived. On 15 May 1971, Sadat announced his
corrective revolution, purging the government, political and security establishments of the most ardent
Nasserists. Sadat encouraged the emergence of an Islamist movement, which had been suppressed by Nasser. Believing Islamists to be socially conservative he gave them "considerable cultural and ideological autonomy" in exchange for political support. In 1971, as part of the
Jarring Mission, three years into the
War of Attrition in the Suez Canal zone, Sadat endorsed in a letter the peace proposals of UN negotiator
Gunnar Jarring, which seemed to lead to a full peace with
Israel on the basis of Israel's withdrawal to its pre-war borders. This peace initiative failed as neither Israel nor the United States of America accepted the terms as discussed then.
Corrective Revolution about the early Sadat years|230px Shortly after taking office, Sadat shocked many Egyptians by dismissing and imprisoning two of the most powerful figures in the regime, Vice President
Ali Sabri, who had close ties with Soviet officials, and
Sharawi Gomaa, the Interior Minister, who controlled the
secret police. and reformed the Egyptian army for a renewed confrontation with Israel. and the Syrian
Golan Heights in an attempt to retake these respective Egyptian and Syrian territories that had been occupied by Israel since the Six Day War six years earlier. The Egyptian and Syrian performance in the initial stages of the war astonished both Israel, and the Arab World. The most striking achievement (
Operation Badr, also known as The Crossing) was the Egyptian military's advance approximately 15 km into the occupied Sinai Peninsula after penetrating and largely destroying the
Bar Lev Line. This line was popularly thought to have been an impregnable defensive chain. As the war progressed, three divisions of the Israeli army led by General
Ariel Sharon had crossed the
Suez Canal, trying to encircle first the Egyptian Second Army. Although this failed, prompted by an agreement between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, the
United Nations Security Council passed
Resolution 338 on 22 October 1973, calling for an immediate ceasefire. Although agreed upon, the ceasefire was immediately broken.
Alexei Kosygin, the
chairman of the
USSR Council of Ministers, cancelled an official meeting with
Danish Prime Minister Anker Jørgensen to travel to Egypt where he tried to persuade Sadat to sign a peace treaty. During Kosygin's two-day long stay it is unknown if he and Sadat ever met in person. The Israeli military then continued their drive to encircle the Egyptian army. The encirclement was completed on 24 October, three days after the ceasefire was broken. This development prompted superpower tension, but a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on 25 October to end the war. At the conclusion of hostilities, Israeli forces were 40 kilometres (25 mi) from
Damascus and 101 kilometres (63 mi) from
Cairo.
Peace with Israel at the signing of the
Egyptian–Israeli Peace Treaty on the grounds of the
White House, 1979 The initial Egyptian and Syrian victories in the war restored popular morale throughout Egypt and the Arab World and, for many years after, Sadat was known as the "Hero of the Crossing". Israel recognized Egypt as a formidable foe, and Egypt's renewed political significance eventually led to regaining and reopening the
Suez Canal through the peace process. His new peace policy led to the conclusion of two agreements on disengagement of forces with the Israeli government. The first of these agreements was signed on 18 January 1974, and the second on 4 September 1975. One major aspect of Sadat's peace policy was to gain some religious support for his efforts. Already during his visit to the US in October–November 1975, he invited Evangelical pastor
Billy Graham for an official visit, which was held a few days after Sadat's visit. In addition to cultivating relations with Evangelical Christians in the US, he also built some cooperation with the Vatican. On 8 April 1976, he visited the Vatican for the first time, and got a message of support from
Pope Paul VI regarding achieving peace with Israel, to include a just solution to the
Palestinian issue. Sadat, on his part, extended to the Pope a public invitation to visit Cairo. Sadat also used the media to promote his purposes. In an interview he gave to the Lebanese magazine
Al Hawadeth in early February 1976, he claimed he had secret commitment from the US government to put pressure on the Israeli government for a major withdrawal in Sinai and the Golan Heights. This statement caused some concern to the Israeli government, but Secretary of State Henry Kissinger denied such a promise was ever made. Law 43 of 1974 or
Infitah, was Anwar Sadat's policy of "opening the door" to foreign private investment within Egypt, in the years after ending the war with Israel. Infitah was accompanied by a break with longtime ally and aid-giver the
USSR—which was replaced by the United States. The policy ended the domination of Egypt's economy by the public sector and encouraged both domestic and foreign investment in the private sector. Millions of previously poor Egyptians who had joined the middle class under the Nasser regime through education and jobs for the government or parastatals, were left stuck in an "increasingly marginalized, stagnant and low-paying public sector," under Infitah. In January 1977, a series of
'Bread Riots' protested Sadat's economic liberalization and specifically a government decree lifting
price controls on basic necessities like bread. The riots lasted for two days and included hundreds of thousands in Cairo. 120 buses and hundreds of buildings were destroyed in Cairo alone. The riots ended with the deployment of the army and the re-institution of the subsidies/price controls. During this time, Sadat was also taking a new approach towards improving relations with the West. The peace treaty was finally signed by Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin in Washington, D.C., United States, on 26 March 1979, following the
Camp David Accords, a series of meetings between Egypt and Israel facilitated by US president
Jimmy Carter. Both Sadat and Begin were awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for creating the treaty. In his acceptance speech, Sadat referred to the long-awaited peace desired by both Arabs and Israelis. The main features of the agreement 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. The agreement notably made Egypt the first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. The peace agreement between Egypt and Israel has remained in effect since the treaty was signed. The treaty was extremely unpopular in most of the Arab World and the wider Muslim World. His predecessor Nasser had made Egypt an icon of Arab nationalism, an ideology that appeared to be sidelined by an Egyptian orientation following the 1973 war (see
National identity of Egyptians). The neighboring Arab countries believed that in signing the accords, Sadat had put Egypt's interests ahead of Arab unity, betraying Nasser's
pan-Arabism, and destroyed the vision of a united "Arab front" for the support of the Palestinians against the "Zionist Entity". However, Sadat decided early on that peace was the solution. Sadat's shift towards a strategic relationship with the US was also seen as a betrayal by many Arabs. In the United States his peace moves gained him popularity among some
Evangelical circles. He was awarded the Prince of Peace Award by
Pat Robertson. In 1979, the
Arab League suspended Egypt in the wake of the Egyptian–Israel peace agreement, and the League moved its headquarters from
Cairo to
Tunis. Arab League member states believed in the elimination of the "Zionist Entity" and Israel at that time. It was not until 1989 that the League re-admitted Egypt as a member, and returned its headquarters to Cairo. As part of the peace deal, Israel withdrew from the
Sinai Peninsula in phases, completing its withdrawal from the entire territory except the town of Taba by 25 April 1982 (withdrawal from which did not occur until 1989). In 1971, Sadat addressed the
Iranian parliament in
Tehran in fluent
Persian, describing the 2,500-year-old historic connection between the two lands. ==Assassination==