After half a century… “October Victory” is an important political and economic milestone in the history of Egypt
The “October Victory” allowed Egypt to achieve a series of political and military gains, and half a century later, the 1973 war against Israel remains a source of pride and inspiration for Egyptians.
Egyptian naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Alexandria during a parade on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary (AFP)
Over the past decades, the October 1973 War was the womb from which the military presidents of the Egyptian Republic were born, starting with Anwar Sadat, who led the war, then concluded a historic peace treaty with Israel, to his successor, Hosni Mubarak, with the exception being the current president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who joined the Military Academy. In the year the war broke out, according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (second to the right) and Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi (to the right) during a military parade outside Cairo on October 6, 1998 (AFP)
Cairo turned its field victories, most notably its army’s crossing of the Suez Canal and penetrating the ranks of Israeli forces in Sinai, into political and diplomatic gains.
Tawfiq Aklimandos, an analyst at the Egyptian Center for Strategic Thought and Studies, believes that what Sadat did during the war and after it gave him “legitimacy” that might replace that enjoyed by his predecessor Gamal Abdel Nasser, the military hero of the 1952 revolution that ended the monarchy in Egypt. .
After the assassination of Sadat in 1981 by Islamists, his deputy Mubarak took power.
Reinforced by his pivotal participation in the war as Commander of the Air Force, experts expected that “the one who struck the first air strike” with the start of the Egyptian attack in 1973 would gain popularity among his citizens as President of the Republic.
Egyptian Third Army soldiers transport supplies through the Suez Canal on November 10, 1973 (AFP)
In 2014, Al-Sisi became the first President of Egypt outside the military club that participated in October 1973. Last year, Al-Sisi named the anniversary of October 6, 1973, “the Day of Pride and Dignity,” and sent several messages to the Egyptians, including that “victory will remain proof of the will and steadfastness of the Egyptians, and their adherence to With the sovereignty and dignity of the nation.”
Al-Sisi placed wreaths at the grave of the unknown soldier and late leader Anwar Sadat (archives – Egyptian Presidency)
Al-Sisi thus wanted to raise the resolve of more than 105 million Egyptians to endure the difficult social and economic conditions, which worsened during 2022. As a result of the shortage of foreign currency, the decline in the value of the local currency, and the unprecedented rise in prices.
Clement explained to Agence France-Presse: “All of this has now become far from the targets of the new generation,” attributing this to the fact that this generation “does not have access to serious Arabic books on this matter.”
He continued, “Only people who lived through war remember the fear and restrictions imposed by the war economy.”
Al-Sisi places a wreath on the grave of the late President Anwar Sadat on the anniversary of the liberation of Sinai (Archive – Egyptian Presidency)
Although Sisi was not on the front lines in 1973 when the Egyptians regained Sinai, he fought another war in the peninsula located in the northeast of the country, but this time against “terrorism,” especially the extremist groups that were active in this region after the overthrow of Morsi.
Peacekeeping forces of the United Nations Emergency Force replace Israeli forces in the Suez region on January 28, 1974 (AFP)
Before it was recovered as a result of the field advances in the 1973 war and the Camp David Peace Agreement years later, Sinai was under Israeli occupation after the defeat suffered by Egypt and Arab countries in the June 1967 war.
Egypt’s recovery of Sinai contributed to the Arab country’s most populous country regaining its position on the diplomatic scene.
Hisham Hillier, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, believes that after the war, “Egypt emerged from Soviet influence to join the Western security sphere,” especially with its annual military aid exceeding a billion dollars.
He added to Agence France-Presse that today, in “a world in which there are multiple poles of influence,” Cairo has begun to balance its relations so as not to favor any of its allies at the expense of others.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin embrace on September 17, 1978 after signing the peace agreement in the East Room of the White House under the watchful eye of US President Jimmy Carter (AFP)
Amr Al-Shobaki, a researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, believes that the 1973 war made the Egyptian army “the army of victory instead of the army of defeat in 1967.”
After 50 years of war, the facts in the Middle East have changed dramatically. Egypt concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, followed by Jordan in 1994. 2020 witnessed the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.
A United Nations peacekeeper looks through binoculars in the Suez Canal area during the war on November 10, 1973 (AFP)
Although the peace agreement with Cairo is the oldest in time, the Egyptian street is still unable to fully deal with this normalization, as Israel is always viewed as the enemy.
Al-Shobaki believes that Sadat, who caused widespread surprise by visiting Jerusalem in 1977 and meeting with Israeli officials even before peace was concluded, “would not have been surprised by the recent normalization agreements.”
He continues: “At that time, he was completely convinced that he had made the right decision to sign peace.”
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2023-10-02 02:05:36
