Sadat in Jerusalem
On 20 November 1977 the president of Egypt stood in the Knesset and spoke of permanent peace. No Arab head of state had visited Israel before. It took one flight to change what was possible.
On the evening of the nineteenth of November 1977, an Egyptian presidential aircraft landed at Ben Gurion Airport. Anwar Sadat walked down the steps into a country his nation had fought four times. The next day he addressed the Knesset in Arabic.
He did not come to flatter. He set out Egypt's demands plainly: the return of occupied land and a just settlement for the Palestinians. But he also said something no Arab leader had said in that room, or anywhere in Israel, before.
"We accept to live with you in permanent peace based on justice." Anwar Sadat, address to the Knesset, 20 November 1977.
Courage as policy
The visit led to Camp David ten months later and to the peace treaty of March 1979. Sadat was assassinated in October 1981 by men who could not forgive him the journey. The treaty survived him.
Every ambassador of peace since has, in some way, been walking down those aircraft steps: going first, into the house of the other, before anyone knows how the visit will end.
Written by
Editorial desk
Contributor, Abrahamic Ambassadors
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