Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Middle Eastern events for generations to come. More emphatically than anything that has happened there since the birth of Israel in 1948, his extraordinary pilgrimage transformed the political realities of a region blackened and embittered by impermeable hatreds and chronic war. In one stroke, the old rules of the Arab-Israeli blood feud no longer applied. Many of the endless hurdles to negotiation seemed to dissolve like Saharan mirages. Not in three decades had the dream of a real peace seemed more probable. For his willingness to seize upon a fresh approach, for his display of personal and political courage...
Sadat's demands on Israel, in exchange for peace, were tough and familiar: the return to Arab sovereignty of all territory (including East Jerusalem) conquered during the 1967 Six-Day War; a homeland for Palestinians on the West Bank and in Gaza. Yet far more important were the generous words of acceptance that few Israelis ever expected to hear from an Arab head of state, least of all in their own parliament...
...That prospect opens wider horizons, ones already being discussed. In Cairo, Egyptians were speculating last week about an eventual unofficial alliance of Egypt, Israel and Iran that would link three countries with complementary economic assets: manpower, Western technology and oil wealth. For the first time, Egypt would have non-Arab allies in the region. The basis for such a partnership would be common opposition to extension of Soviet or leftist power in the Middle East?a reflection of Sadat's conviction that the real danger to him is represented by the Soviet Union, not Israel...
Initially, Washington feared that Sadat, by seizing the diplomatic reins from the U.S., might be moving too far ahead of events, too far away from the other Arab states that must be nudged along if a meaningful peace treaty is to be signed. The Administration was also concerned that Israel might not offer enough in return, or that Sadat would jeopardize an over-all Middle East peace by signing a separate Egyptian-Israeli accord...
...friends in Amman that he was going to make a detour to Jerusalem on his way to Cairo. "Haven't been there for years," he said. "I guess they consider me public enemy No. 1." Holden was joking, though it is true that Israeli officials considered him pro-Arab because of his sensitive reporting on the plight of Palestinians. Holden had also criticized Arab left-wingers for "their stupid boasts and futile gestures," and some friends believe he may have been the victim of Arab extremists...