Anwar Sadat: The story of the Egyptian president who was assassinated on the anniversary of his victory – BBC News Arabic

Muhammad Anwar Sadat was born on December 25, 1918 in the village of Mit Abu al-Koum in Menoufia Governorate in Egypt.

The Encyclopædia Britannica says that Sadat graduated from the Military Academy in Cairo in 1938, and during World War II he planned to drive the British out of Egypt with the help of the Germans.

The British arrested and imprisoned him in 1942, but he escaped two years later. In 1946, Sadat was arrested after being accused of involvement in the assassination of British loyalist Minister Amin Othman, and was imprisoned until his release in 1948.

In 1950, he joined the National Liberation Movement, and Sadat was one of the leaders of the Free Officers Group that overthrew the Egyptian monarchy in 1952. He also supported the election of Abdel Nasser to the presidency -sat in 1956.

Sadat held several high positions, including the post of Vice President between 1964 and 1966, and 1969 and 1970.

He then became acting president after the death of Abdel Nasser on September 28, 1970, and was elected president in a general referendum on October 15, 1970.

After accepting this position, he faced serious challenges from the so-called power centers, which were the pillars of Abdel Nasser’s regime, and he succeeded in eliminating them from the called in Egypt a “rectification revolution.”

The Egyptian economy was also in bad shape after the 1967 war and the defeat of the Egyptian army against Israel, and Egyptian society was suffering from inflation and a lack of basic services.

In 1972, after Sadat felt that the Soviet Union did not support him enough, he expelled thousands of Soviet technicians and advisers from the country.

The Encyclopædia Britannica states that Egyptian peace towards Israel began early in Sadat’s presidency, when he expressed his willingness to reach a peace settlement if Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula (which Israel was at war with 1967).

After the failure of this campaign, Sadat launched a military offensive in coordination with Syria to regain the land, which ended the Arab-Israeli war on October 6, 1973.

The Egyptian army suffered a tactical surprise in its October 6 attack on the seemingly impregnable Israeli strongholds on the east bank of the Suez Canal.

Although Israel repelled the advance of Egyptian forces to retake the Sinai Peninsula, it suffered heavy losses.

Sadat came out of the war very visible as the first Arab leader to get land back from Israel. His standing on the international scene also became strong, as many saw him as a national hero and an experienced leader who restored the dignity of the Arab nation, it was not just a military move. ‘ this war, but a prelude to great diplomatic movements.

After the war, Sadat worked to achieve peace in the Middle East. He made a historic visit to Israel on November 19 and 20, 1977, and during this visit he traveled to Jerusalem to present his plan for a peace settlement before the Israeli Knesset.

This began a series of diplomatic efforts that Sadat continued despite strong opposition from most of the Arab world and the Soviet Union.

US President Jimmy Carter mediated the talks between Sadat and Menachem Begin, which led to the signing of the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978, the original peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978, and as a result of their ongoing political negotiations, a peace treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, between Egypt and Israel, the first treaty between the latter and an Arab country. existence

While Sadat’s popularity in the West rose, it declined sharply in Egypt due to internal opposition to the treaty, the worsening economic crisis, and Sadat’s overthrow disagreement.

In September 1981, Sadat launched a massive security campaign against his opponents, imprisoning more than 1,500 people from across the political spectrum.

The following month, Sadat was assassinated by members of Egypt’s Islamic Jihad movement during an Armed Forces Day military parade on October 6, 1973.

Sadat had received a military salute, placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and was sitting watching the Egyptian Air Force parade when two hand grenades exploded.

Then gunmen jumped out of an armored truck in front of the presidential review center, ran towards the audience, and opened fire on the officers.

Despite the usual large numbers of security personnel at this holiday time, witnesses say the attackers were able to continue shooting for more than a minute.

By the time the president’s bodyguards returned fire, at least ten people were seriously injured or dead inside the platform.

Security forces then shot and killed two of the attackers and captured the rest, while a large crowd of military personnel and civilian bystanders ran for cover.

President Sadat was airlifted to a military hospital, and is believed to have died about two hours later.

The precision with which the attack was coordinated has raised suspicions that the attackers benefited from high-level intelligence and support.

Reactions to President Sadat’s death were mixed.

US President Ronald Reagan condemned the assassination of Anwar Sadat and described it as a heinous act. He said: “The United States has lost a great friend, the world has lost a great statesman, and humanity has lost a champion for peace.”

But many celebrated this news. In Libya, Tripoli Radio said that every tyrant has an end, as thousands take to the streets of the capital in joy.

The Palestine Liberation Organization also did not condemn the killing. Nabil Ramlawi, an official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said: “We expected this end for President Sadat because we are sure that he was working against the interests of his people, the Arab countries, and the Palestinian people. “

After his death, the personality of Anwar Sadat remained a controversial subject, as some saw him as a national hero and a pioneer for peace in the Middle East, while others saw him as a figure who fueled internal and external divisions. However, it cannot be denied that his legacy had a profound impact on Egypt and the Arab world.

On the international level, Sadat is considered one of the leaders who contributed to changing the characteristics of the Middle East. The peace treaty he signed with Israel was not just a bilateral agreement, but the beginning of a new phase of relations between the Arab countries and Israel, although these relations did not develop much overall. years later.

Some people feel that history has justified Sadat’s approach to dealing with the Arab-Israeli conflict More than a decade after his assassination, the Palestinians began their long and difficult journey to make peace with their enemies, and then the Jordanians by concluding peace with their enemies. Israel, then the UAE, Morocco, Sudan, and Bahrain.

At the local level, the political and economic reforms initiated by Sadat, which led Egypt away from the command economy and one-party state it inherited from its predecessor Gamal Abdel Nasser, continued the shaping Egyptian society.

Sadat left his mark on Egypt through his economic and social policies. Although these policies were not without flaws, they were an attempt to modernize the Egyptian economy and open the door to foreign investments.

One of Sadat’s most important domestic initiatives was the open door policy known as Infitah, a program of radical economic change that included decentralization and diversification of the economy as well as efforts to attract foreign trade and investment.

Sadat’s efforts to liberalize the economy came at a great cost, including increased inflation, unequal distribution of wealth, and deepening inequality, leading to increasing discontent with what was known as the then the January 1977 Bread Revolution.

Sadat promised the Egyptians that peace with Israel would bring foreign investment and prosperity, but this did not happen.

The country’s economic hardship has continued to accumulate, and the gap between the poor and the rich has widened.

Some also accused Sadat of being behind the emergence of radical Islam in Egypt. To crush his opponents, most of them from secular and leftist forces, he co-opted the Islamists and asked for their support.

Sadat also changed the constitution to make Islamic law the primary source of legislation. Like other regional and international players during the Cold War, Sadat used political Islam to attack opponents he described as “communists.”

Once the genie is out of the bottle, it’s hard to get it back. It is believed that those who killed Sadat were his former allies in his battle against the left, and that they killed him because he made peace with their enemy, Israel.

Among the many suspects jailed after Sadat’s assassination was a young Egyptian doctor named Ayman al-Zawahiri. After serving his sentence, he left Egypt to join the ranks of global jihad, eventually becoming the leader of Al-Qaeda until his death in 2022.