I was very pleased with the overwhelming amount of praise and encouragement on the newspaper's website as well as on my account on X (formerly Twitter) after publishing my previous article, "Israel's often offered peace, always rejected by the Arab world."
These comments provided me with immense positive energy and helped me ignore the negative threats. I extend my deep thanks and gratitude to the dear readers, as well as to my chosen exile in Northern Europe, specifically Sweden, from where I write my articles. If it weren’t for this exile, I wouldn’t have been able to write a single line in any of the articles you kindly read.
I was forced to leave my beloved country, Egypt, in April 2018 because I was an advocate for a modern, democratic civil state—not a military or religious one—and I also called for peace with Israel to be a popular, not just a governmental, matter. In Egypt, these are grave crimes for which one could pay with their life.
I will return later to write in detail about what I’ve mentioned here and from a broader perspective. For now, I wanted to thank you and introduce myself briefly, and I will now continue where I left off in my previous article, specifically about Golda Meir's plan, which she proposed on February 9, 1971. I also want to stress something very important: the peace initiatives and plans I discuss in my articles, proposed by Israel, are just a part of the whole, or the most prominent, and not all of them, hence the clarification.
1970's initiatives
The 6th of October War in 1973 (Yom Kippur War) occurred, and afterward, "Menachem Begin's plan for autonomy" was proposed on January 28, 1977, months after the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Israel. This proposal was made in a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Begin before the Knesset, where he suggested forming a self-governing administration for the residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This administration would replace military rule in those areas, and the Arab residents would elect an 11-member administrative council. The Palestinian side rejected this offer, and they also refused to attend the "Mena House Conference" held in December 1977 at the Mena House Hotel in Giza.
The conference aimed to address and resolve final issues concerning Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. The Palestine Liberation Organization, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the Soviet Union were invited but did not attend, despite the conference's declared goal to hold the first direct peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis.
Regarding the Mena House Conference, Saeed Kamal, a former Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, gave a historic testimony on a television program that everyone should know. He said: "I was sitting with President Sadat, Yasser Arafat, and Farouk Qaddoumi (a senior leader of the PLO and Secretary-General of the Fatah movement).
Sadat told Arafat, 'I don’t care about the Syrians, the Iraqis, or the Jordanians. I care about the Palestinians. Come to the Mena House Conference, sit beside me, and raise the Palestinian flag.' Kamal adds, 'It was a golden opportunity that was wasted.' When asked why, Kamal said that the Palestinian decision was hijacked by Syria, Russia, and Iraq."
Kamal's words were indeed true then, and they remain true today. Back then, the decision was hijacked by those countries, and now it's hijacked by Iran.
What further confirms the hijacking of the Palestinian decision is that Yasser Arafat attended President Sadat's speech before the Egyptian Parliament on November 8, 1977, in which Sadat declared his readiness to go to the Knesset and negotiate with the Israelis. Arafat applauded Sadat warmly during the speech. So why, then, did Arafat later attack him and curse him?
After the Mena House Conference, which was rejected by the Arab states, the Arab world also rejected the Egypt-Israel peace treaty signed in Washington, D.C., on March 26, 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the treaty, with U.S. President Jimmy Carter as a witness. The treaty sparked widespread anger in the Arab world, and Sadat was branded a traitor.
A few days later, Arab countries froze their relations with Egypt. On March 31, 1979, just five days after the peace treaty was ratified, Arab leaders gathered in Baghdad, excluding Egypt, and decided to expel Egypt from the Arab League. At the time, Arab media portrayed Sadat as a traitor, driven by the propaganda of leaders like Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad, Muammar Gaddafi, and Ali Abdullah Saleh. The absurdity reached the point where Iran named a street after one of Sadat’s assassins, Khalid al-Islambouli.
Oslo aftermath
Since then, much has happened, and we arrived at the signing of the Oslo Accords, or the Oslo I Accord, officially known as the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements. This peace agreement was signed by Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1993, with U.S. President Bill Clinton as a witness. The agreement is named after the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where secret negotiations took place in 1991, leading to the accord as part of the Madrid Conference.
This agreement allowed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to return to Jericho on July 1, 1994. When asked how he could make a deal with the Jews, Arafat famously said that it was similar to the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. For those unfamiliar, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah was a peace agreement between Muslims and non-Muslims. This statement reveals that Arafat was never sincere or genuine in his pursuit of peace; he viewed it merely as a temporary truce.
The Oslo II Accord followed, signed officially in Washington on September 28, 1995. However, these agreements changed little on the ground due to terrorist attacks carried out by groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Arafat did not fulfill his duties as President of the Palestinian Authority, and he deliberately and premeditatedly failed one of the most significant opportunities, namely the Camp David Summit of 2000. This summit, which took place from July 11 to 25, 2000, was between US President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. The summit aimed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but ended without an agreement (due to Arafat's obstinacy and rejection). After Arafat's death, his successor Mahmoud Abbas rejected the proposal made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Olmert told the BBC that he went to the furthest extent in the peace process with the Palestinians, more than any other Israeli Prime Minister before him. He explained that his proposal offered the Palestinians 94% of the West Bank, allowed them to control parts of East Jerusalem, and provided symbolic returns for some refugees.
So far, that's the end of his statement, and of course (the involuntary rejection from the Palestinian side was strong).
It is important to note that Sinai returned to Egypt through peace, not war. Egypt fought in October (and lost the war, "a topic for another article"). Had it not been for President Sadat's initiative, Sinai might still be in the same situation as the Golan Heights. Similarly, the "Naqab" and "Ghamar" territories returned to Jordan under the Wadi Araba Treaty signed on October 26, 1994.
I must ask the "resistance axis," the legitimate heir to what was previously known as the "front of steadfastness and confrontation," to show me a single square meter in the Arab region that was liberated through war! I challenge them to name one.
Peace initiatives have failed
Given all the rejected Israeli initiatives by Arabs and Palestinians, it was natural and logical for right-wing forces in Israel to become more active, especially under Hamas rule or the Hamas Charter, which calls for the elimination of Israel. We should also remember that the Abraham Accords were signed under right-wing rule, just as the peace treaty with Egypt was previously signed. Additionally, if the terrorist events of October 7 had not occurred, we might now have an Israeli-Saudi peace agreement.
One might ask, what is the solution? Will the hostility, wars, and conflicts continue forever!?
I answer that closing off all prospects for a better tomorrow for many people leads them to extremism or, at the very least, makes them tools of Iran and its allies. Today, many countries in the region fully understand that the only solution is peace. There is a struggle between the forces of evil, destruction, and fragmentation of countries, represented by Iran and its proxies, and countries that have finally realized that the inevitable result of hostility is destruction.
We must confront the forces of destruction with all the power we possess. They aim to poison our present and take revenge on the future of our children and grandchildren. I am placing my hope in the conscience of the Jewish nation, which has produced individuals who contributed to the development, growth, and prosperity of the world. I am betting on those who gave us "Baruch Spinoza, Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Yitzhak Rabin, Moses Maimonides, Leo Strauss, and Vivian Silver," among many others, to lead the entire region towards horizons of peace, prosperity, growth, coexistence, and mutual cooperation.