The Israel-Egypt peace treaty (Arabic: معاهدة السلام المصرية الإسرائيلية; transliterated: Mu'ahadat as-Salam al-Masriyah al-Isra'yliyah) (Hebrew: הסכם שלום ישראל-מצרים; transliterated: Heskem Shalom Yisrael-Mizraim) 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 withdrawal by Israel of its armed forces and civilians from the Sinai Peninsula which Israel had occupied since 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

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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 1978 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 not to sign a separate peace treaty. Prime Minister of Israel Menahem 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 is violated, the role of the UN and the future supply of military and economic aid to Israel.

The treaty proposed a linkage between peace with Egypt and Palestinian autonomy that was never implemented in practice.

See also

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• Multinational Force and Observers
• Yamit
• Taba
• Anwar Sadat
• Menachem Begin
• Jimmy Carter
• Arab League

Arab-Israeli peace diplomacy and treaties

• Paris Peace Conference, 1919
• Faisal-Weizmann Agreement (1919)

(The preceding agreements should not be considered "Arab-Israeli" diplomacy as prior to 1948 there were no "Israelis" in the sense of belonging to a modern nation-state.)

• 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

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• 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

1979 in law | History of Egypt | History of foreign relations of the United States | History of Israel | Middle East peace efforts | Peace treaties | United States-Israeli relations

Israelisch-ägyptischer Friedensvertrag | Traité de paix israélo-égyptien | הסכם השלום בין ישראל למצרים