Egypt–Israel relations
Foreign relations between Egypt and Israel, which dated back to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War culminated in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and was followed by the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty a year after the Camp David Accords, mediated by U.S. president Jimmy Carter. Full diplomatic relations were established on January 26, 1980, and the formal exchange of ambassadors took place one month later, on February 26, 1980, with Eliyahu Ben-Elissar serving as the first Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, and Saad Mortada as the first Egyptian Ambassador to Israel. Egypt has an embassy in Tel Aviv and a consulate in Eilat. Israel has an embassy in Cairo and a consulate in Alexandria. Their shared border has two official crossings, one at Taba and one at Nitzana. The crossing at Nitzana is for commercial and tourist traffic only. The two countries' borders also meet at the shoreline of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea.
Peace between Egypt and Israel has lasted for more than forty years and Egypt has become an important strategic partner of Israel. In January 2011, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister known for his close ties to Egyptian officials, stated that "Egypt is not only our closest friend in the region, the co-operation between us goes beyond the strategic." Nevertheless, the relationship is sometimes described as a "cold peace", with many in Egypt skeptical about its effectiveness. According to a 2019–2020 survey, 13% of Egyptians support diplomatic recognition of Israel while 85% oppose. The Arab-Israeli conflict kept relations cool and anti-Israeli incitement is prevalent in the Egyptian media.
History
Conflicts of the early years
Background
In 1947, Egypt was a constitutional monarchy, with King Farouk I holding substantial power. Although Egypt had been formally neutral for most of World War II, Britain had used Egypt as a base for Allied operations throughout the region. After the war, hostility in Egypt towards the continued British presence grew increasingly pronounced. Britain had governed Palestine under a League of Nations mandate for several decades and had also supported the establishment of a Jewish state there. In 1947, the British government referred the matter to the United Nations, which adopted the Partition Plan. The plan proposed dividing Palestine and ultimately led to the creation of Israel. In the debate over this resolution, the Egyptian government voiced strong concern about Jewish settlement activity near its border, viewing it as the beginning of broader ambitions toward Sinai—an intention it claimed was reflected in various public statements. Egypt voted against the resolution but was outvoted. On 14 May 1948, under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, the State of Israel was established as a parliamentary democracy.First Arab-Israel war
Immediately after Israel declared its independence in May 1948, both superpower leaders, U.S. president Harry S. Truman and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, recognized the new state. The Arab League members Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq refused to accept the UN partition plan and proclaimed the right of self-determination for the Arabs across the whole of Palestine. The Arab states invaded the newly declared State of Israel, which had until the previous day been part of Mandatory Palestine, starting the first Arab–Israeli War. The 10 months of fighting took place mostly in Israel, in the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon, interrupted by several truce periods.The war between Israel and Egypt ended with the signing of an armistice agreement on 24 February 1949. In the accord with Egypt, armistice lines were established that served as de facto borders. As a result of the war, Israel expanded its territory beyond the areas allocated to it under the 1947 UN partition plan. Egypt assumed control of the Gaza Strip, while Transjordan took over the West Bank. Egypt still did not recognize Israel as a sovereign state. These armistice lines remained in place until the outbreak of war in 1967. However, no peace was reached until 1979, and the two countries remained enemies until that time.
At the start of the Arab–Israeli war, Egypt blocked Israeli shipping through the Suez Canal, severely restricting Israel’s access to maritime trade routes to Asia and East Africa. Although Israel captured the site of Eilat in March 1949, gaining access to the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt began militarizing the nearby islands of Tiran and Sanafir by the end of that year, asserting control in coordination with Saudi Arabia. Israel first complained to the UN about Egypt’s interference with Suez Canal shipping in June 1951 and, while the Straits of Tiran were not yet in regular use, it prepared military options in case diplomacy failed. UN Security Council Resolution 95, adopted on 1 September 1951, called on Egypt to end restrictions on commercial shipping through the Suez Canal, though Egypt ignored the resolution.
Egyptian revolution of 1952
Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, led by the Free Officers Movement, Egypt abolished the monarchy and declared a republic in 1953 under President Muhammad Naguib. Power soon shifted to Gamal Abdel Nasser, who took office in 1956 and established a nationalist, anti-imperialist regime grounded in Arab socialism and non-alignment. Under Nasser, Egypt centralized political control, suppressed opposition groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, and introduced major reforms, including expanded suffrage and a new constitution. Nasser aimed to lead a pan-Arab movement, a political ideology advocating for the unification of all Arab countries.Lavon affair
In 1954, Israeli military intelligence orchestrated a failed covert operation in Egypt known as the Lavon affair. A group of Egyptian Jews were recruited to carry out bombings at American, British, and Egyptian civilian sites in an attempt to damage Egypt’s international standing and encourage continued British military presence in the Suez Canal zone. The attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, amongst others. It was apparently hoped that the ensuing chaos would convince Western governments that Nasser’s regime was unstable and thus undeserving of financial or other support. The plan was exposed, leading to arrests, trials, and the execution or imprisonment of several operatives. The scandal forced Israeli defense minister Pinhas Lavon to resign and strained Egypt–Israel relations. In February 1955, outrage in Israel over the execution of two operatives involved in the Lavon affair led to widespread calls for retaliation. On 28 February, the Israeli military launched a raid on Gaza—then under Egyptian control—that resulted in the deaths of 39 Egyptians. Israel denied involvement until 2005, when the surviving operatives were officially honored.Cross-border violence
Prior to 1955, Nasser had pursued efforts to reach peace with Israel and had worked to prevent cross-border Palestinian attacks. In February 1955, Unit 101, an Israeli unit under Ariel Sharon, conducted a raid on the Egyptian Army headquarters in Gaza in retaliation for a Palestinian fedayeen attack that killed an Israeli civilian. As a result of the incident, Nasser began allowing raids into Israel by the Palestinian militants. Egypt established fedayeen bases not just in Gaza but also in Jordan and Lebanon, from which incursions could be launched with a greater amount of plausible deniability on the part of Nasser's Egypt. The raids triggered a series of Israeli reprisal operations, which ultimately contributed to the Suez Crisis.Suez crisis
The Suez Crisis was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Prior to the invasion, Egypt had tightened a blockade that had already restricted Israeli shipping for eight years. In response, Israel invaded Egypt on 29 October 1956, aiming primarily to re-open the Straits of Tiran and regain access to the Gulf of Aqaba. After issuing a joint ultimatum for a ceasefire, the United Kingdom and France joined the Israelis on 5 November, intending to remove Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser from power and regain control of the Suez Canal, which Nasser had earlier nationalised by transferring it from the foreign-owned Suez Canal Company to Egypt's new government-owned Suez Canal Authority.However, the invasion provoked strong opposition from the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Nations, forcing all three invading countries to withdraw. Although Israel withdrew after four months, its temporary occupation of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula enabled it to achieve its goal of regaining access to the Straits of Tiran. Following the withdrawal, Sinai was returned to Egypt, and Egypt resumed control of Gaza. The Suez Canal, however, remained closed from October 1956 to March 1957. As a result of the conflict, the UN established an emergency force to police and patrol the Egypt–Israel border.
Ben-Gurion resigned as prime minister on 16 June 1963. Levi Eshkol succeeded him as prime minister, minister of defense, and leader of the ruling Mapai party. David Ben-Gurion was seen as a decisive and authoritative leader, capable of bold action during times of crisis. In contrast, Levi Eshkol projected a more moderate image. He preferred broad consultation and often hesitated before making decisions, reflecting a more cautious leadership style. Moshe Dayan became defense minister in 1967, four days before the start of the Six-Day War.
More wars and peace treaty
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War, fought from 5 to 10 June 1967, marked a turning point in Egypt–Israel relations. Following rising tensions and Egyptian troop movements along the Israeli border in Sinai, Israel carried out preemptive strikes, swiftly defeating Egyptian forces and occupying both the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. The war dealt a heavy blow to Egypt and significantly expanded Israeli-controlled territory, deepening the conflict between the two states. While the war began with a confrontation between Israel and Egypt, it quickly expanded to include Jordan and Syria, with Israel capturing the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.Following this war, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve the issues at the heart of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Israel had more than doubled its size since the start of the war, and it was willing to return the occupied territories in exchange for Arab recognition of its sovereignty and assurances of non-aggression. But at the Arab League summit in September 1967, member states adopted the "three no's" policy: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, and no negotiations with Israel. Egyptian president Nasser believed that only military initiative would compel Israel to agree to a full Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, and hostilities soon resumed along the Suez Canal.
In early 1969, Levi Eshkol died. A few weeks later, he was succeeded by Golda Meir. She became party leader and she won the elections in the fall of that year.