Exploring the Reasons Behind Egypt's Policy Shift in the 1970s

This essay delves into the reasons for Egypt's significant foreign policy shift during the 1970s, particularly concerning its relationship with Israel and Western nations, especially the United States. The analysis begins with the context of the wars, including the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, and the Suez Canal crisis, which significantly impacted Egypt's stance. It explores the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser and his pan-Arab nationalism, contrasting it with the subsequent leadership of Anwar Sadat and his pragmatic approach. The essay highlights key events such as the Six-Day War, the October War, and the Camp David Accords, illustrating how these events reshaped Egypt's foreign relations. The role of the United States, the Soviet Union, and other international actors is examined, demonstrating the complex interplay of political, economic, and strategic factors that drove Egypt's policy changes. The essay concludes by emphasizing how Egypt transitioned from a policy of confrontation to one of peace, resulting in improved relations with the United States and a changed dynamic within the Arab world.

Running head: REASONS FOR EGYPT’S POLICY CHANGE, 1970
REASONS FOR EGYPT’S CHANGE OF POLICIES TOWARDS ISRAEL AND THE
WEST IN 1970s
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REASONS FOR EGYPT’S POLICY CHANGE, 1970
Why did Egypt change its policies towards Israel and the West during
the 1970s?
The period from 1967-1973 altered the course of history for the Middle East countries
especially between Egypt and Israel. Succeeding the War of attrition, the Yom Kippur War
and the Suez Canal crisis, Egypt had changed certain foreign policies towards Israel and the
western countries that supported it. The purpose of this essay is to recognize the reasons for
the change in Egypt’s policies towards Israel and the West during the 1970s.
Prior to the foreign policy changes in the 1970s, Egypt’s relations were not amicable
with the Israelites and the West especially the United States of America. The wars between
Egypt and Israel made the relation of the two countries to be bitter1. Since, Israel received
supports and foreign aids from the US during this period, the relation between Egypt and the
west were not in proper terms. However, as an aftermath of the wars, USA did intervene in
the war to make the two nations declare peace and sign a treaty that would benefit both the
nations and their relation with the United States of America as well.
The Yom Kippur War or the October War of 1973 ushered a new framework of
foreign policies between the Middle East countries and the USA2. The conditions for the
aforementioned war were shaped by events prior to 6 years. In the year 1967, Israel launched
the June War on Egypt, Syria and Jordan, which resulted in Israel occupying the historic
Palestine, the Sinai desert of Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria. Six years later, Egypt
and Syria decided to retaliate and launched a two front collaborated attack on Israel to gain
back the lost territories. Herein the cold war between the USSR and US became inflamed, as
USA backed Israel because the Soviets provided the Arab nations with weapons.
1 Martin, Kevin W. "James L. Gelvin. The Modern Middle East: A History." Teaching History: A Journal
of Methods 32, no. 1 (2007): 55-57.
2 Cleveland, William. "A History of the Modern Middle East, 213." (2004).

2REASONS FOR EGYPT’S POLICY CHANGE, 1970
Under the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt experienced a surge of social
reform, modernization and a staunch pan-Arab nationalism. With the nationalization of the
Suez Canal (1956) and Egypt’s political triumph in the Tripartite Aggression raised his
prestige throughout the Arab world3. The Nasser era in Egypt positioned nationalism at the
highest level. This era experienced several significant events such as the Opposition to the
Baghdad Pact, the tripartite aggression or the Suez crisis, the war with Yemen as well as the
war of 1967, and lastly the pact with Syria. However, with Egypt’s brutal defeat to Israel in
the Six-Day War (1967) combined with the demise of Nasser in 1970, resulted in the
ascension of Anwar Sadat as the president of Egypt, thereby panning out a new era for Egypt
and its foreign relations.
The war of 1973 also recognized as the October War, launched against Israel by the
coalition of Egypt and Syria on the holiest day of Judaism, Yom Kippur, restored the
Egyptian reputation and made it clear to Israel that the status quo was no longer tenable. In
this war, the forces led by combined efforts of Syria and Egypt crossed the ceasefire lines to
regain the Israel occupied areas of Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula4. The war resulted in
devastating losses between both the nations. The war concluded with negotiations between
Egypt and Israel (the Camp David Accords) which further led to the Egypt-Israel Peace
Treaty wherein Israel agreed to trade the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt as an act of peace.
In 1971, President Sadat had terminated association with the Soviet Union as they had
then advised Egypt for not going into war with Israel5. However, Sadat needed to regain the
faith of the Egyptians and also the lost provinces that were being occupied by Israel. By the
autumn of 1973, Sadat had acquired the support for his decision to attack Israel from over
3 Waterbury, John. The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat: the political economy of two regimes. Vol. 515.
Princeton University Press, 2014.
4 Anderson, Roy R., Robert Seibert, and Jon G. Wagner. Politics and Change in the Middle East:
Pearson New International Edition PDF EBook. Routledge, 2015.
5 Sasley, Brent E. The Cold War in Middle East, 1950-1991. Simon and Schuster, 2014.

3REASONS FOR EGYPT’S POLICY CHANGE, 1970
hundred states belonging to the Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League and Organization of
African Unity as well as Syria combined forces with Egypt6. While Egypt encountered little
success in the Crossing it also faced a huge loss in the Sinai desert, in the course of the war.
The intervention of the USA to provide airlifted weapons and supplies to Israel made the
Saudi Arabians declare an oil embargo on the USA. The ongoing war combined with the
rising tensions between the nations involved led to the peace talks between USA and the
USSR, which in turn resulted in the signing of peace treaties between Egypt and Israel.
What began with waging wars ended in peace as Egypt moved on from the policy of
confrontation to one of peace with the Israelites. The disagreements between the countries in
the Sinai Disengagement Agreement of 1974, was amended by Sadat’s dramatic and surprise
visit to Jerusalem in 19777. This further led to the trilateral negotiations at Camp David
wherein the US President Jimmy Carter invited the two nations at war to conclude in peace.
Following twelve days of negotiations, the Camp David Accords were signed between Israel
and Egypt on September 17th 19788. In addition, the peace treaty between the aforementioned
nations at war ensured the regained control of Egypt over the Sinai Peninsula. Throughout
these phases, the relations between USA and Egypt kept on improving and Egypt received
large percentage of American foreign aids.
Therefore, the wars not only concluded with the peace between Egypt and Israel but
also resulted in the change of relation between the USA and Egypt. However, it must be
mentioned that by securing its interests in favor of the USA and Israel, Egypt called upon
itself the enmity of the other Arab states as it was soon suspended from the Arab League.
6 Goldschmidt Jr, Arthur. Modern Egypt: The formation of a nation-state. Routledge, 2018.
7 Schulze, Kirsten E. The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Routledge, 2013.
8 Quandt, William B. Camp David: peacemaking and politics. Brookings Institution Press, 2015.

4REASONS FOR EGYPT’S POLICY CHANGE, 1970
These events combined together contributed to the change in the Egyptian foreign policy
towards the USA and Israel in the 1970s.

5REASONS FOR EGYPT’S POLICY CHANGE, 1970
References
Anderson, Roy R., Robert Seibert, and Jon G. Wagner. Politics and Change in the Middle
East: Pearson New International Edition PDF EBook. Routledge, 2015.
Cleveland, William. "A History of the Modern Middle East, 213." (2004).
Goldschmidt Jr, Arthur. Modern Egypt: The formation of a nation-state. Routledge, 2018.
Martin, Kevin W. "James L. Gelvin. The Modern Middle East: A History." Teaching History:
A Journal of Methods 32, no. 1 (2007): 55-57.
Quandt, William B. Camp David: peacemaking and politics. Brookings Institution Press,
2015.
Sasley, Brent E. The Cold War in Middle East, 1950-1991. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
Schulze, Kirsten E. The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Routledge, 2013.
Waterbury, John. The Egypt of Nasser and Sadat: the political economy of two regimes. Vol.
515. Princeton University Press, 2014.