Egypt–Israel peace treaty

Overview

The Egypt–Israel peace treaty is the agreement signed by Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979. It ended their state of war, established a framework for diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, and provided for Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt became the first Arab country to conclude a peace treaty with Israel. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and United States President Jimmy Carter attended the signing ceremony. The treaty followed the Camp David Accords and turned their principles for bilateral peace into binding commitments. [1][2][3]

The agreement replaced decades of armed conflict and deep mistrust with recognized borders, an exchange of ambassadors and security arrangements intended to reduce the risk of another war. Israel returned Sinai, including military bases and other strategic assets, and removed its forces and Jewish communities there. Egypt accepted formal peace and normal relations with Israel. Their cooperation has remained strategically important even as hostile public rhetoric and limited civilian ties have constrained broader normalization. The establishment of Israel’s embassy in Cairo gave practical effect to the treaty’s diplomatic commitments. [4][5][6]

Background

Egypt and Israel fought repeatedly before the treaty. Israel controlled Sinai after the 1967 Six-Day War. Earlier, Egypt had stationed forces on Tiran and Sanafir, islands at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba. In 1967, President Gamal Abdel Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, restricting maritime access to Eilat. The closure helped precipitate the Six-Day War. Israel held the islands as well as Sinai at the war’s end. Their location made freedom of navigation a central issue in any later settlement. [7][8]

The 1973 war preceded Sadat’s decision to pursue a negotiated peace. Ending the conflict required a political break with longstanding Arab opposition to recognition of Israel. Sadat made that break in 1977 by visiting Jerusalem, a historic step that opened direct negotiations. His initiative was decisive, as was Israel’s willingness to negotiate. Begin entered the process without preconditions and accepted withdrawal from Sinai, including the removal of Israeli communities, to secure peace. Both leaders faced difficult choices after years of hostility. [2][4][9]

Carter brought Sadat and Begin to Camp David in 1978 and personally engaged them for nearly two weeks. United States specialists prepared a draft treaty that negotiators revised during the talks. The resulting accords contained two frameworks: one for wider regional peace and another setting out principles for an Egypt–Israel treaty. Negotiations continued at Camp David and in Washington during 1978–1979. Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan helped negotiate the treaty, as did Israeli diplomat Elyakim Rubinstein. After Israel’s cabinet confirmed the text on March 19, 1979, Begin presented it to the Knesset for endorsement the following day. [1][3][10][11]

Terms

The treaty ended the state of war and called for normal relations between Egypt and Israel. Those relations included diplomatic representation, economic and cultural ties, and cooperation in fields such as education. The parties undertook to exchange ambassadors. Establishing an Israeli embassy in Cairo was therefore a substantive part of implementing peace, alongside military coordination. The agreement addressed the aftermath of armed conflict, unlike later normalization arrangements centered on opening new bilateral relationships. [3][4][6]

Its central territorial provision required Israel to withdraw from Sinai and return the peninsula to Egyptian sovereignty. Under the United States-mediated Camp David framework, Israel agreed to remove its Sinai communities as well as its military forces. Sinai’s security provisions limited Egyptian military deployments and required international monitoring. These arrangements were intended to make territorial return compatible with Israel’s security. The treaty also protected freedom of navigation through the Straits of Tiran, preserving Israel’s access to Eilat through the Gulf of Aqaba. Monitoring on Tiran was consequently part of the security framework, not merely an issue concerning the island itself. [5][7][12]

The Multinational Force and Observers was created to support the treaty’s monitoring arrangements in Sinai and on Tiran. Its personnel oversee compliance by both countries with the agreed security provisions. Egypt’s military presence in Sinai has at times expanded with Israel’s assent in response to armed threats, showing how the parties have applied the treaty’s security framework to changing conditions. Such deployments require coordination because Sinai’s force limits remain treaty commitments. [12][13]

Implementation

Israel completed its treaty-mandated withdrawal from Sinai in 1982. It relinquished military installations and other strategic assets and evacuated its forces and Jewish communities. Israel also returned Tiran and Sanafir to Egypt as implementation advanced. Egypt marks April 25 as Sinai Liberation Day; in 2015, it observed the thirty-third anniversary of the return of most of the peninsula to Egyptian sovereignty. The withdrawal completed the treaty’s territorial exchange and made peace with Egypt a defining achievement of Begin’s government. [5][8][14]

Successive Egyptian governments kept the agreement in force. President Hosni Mubarak maintained it throughout his presidency, and it survived the presidency of Mohamed Morsi. During Morsi’s term, Egypt also mediated between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization, while his government developed closer political ties with Hamas. Israeli and Egyptian militaries maintained working relations during unrest in Sinai. Israel subsequently consented to Egyptian deployments beyond the treaty’s ordinary personnel limits to confront armed groups, including an Islamic State affiliate. By early 2018, 42,000 Egyptian soldiers in 88 battalions were operating in Sinai with Israel’s assent. [6][12][13]

The monitoring mission faced direct threats. A jihadi group attacked the Multinational Force and Observers on June 9, 2015, while its North Camp operated amid armed activity in Sinai. By 2022, the force had nearly 1,700 personnel from roughly a dozen countries, including about 450 Americans. It continued to monitor Egyptian and Israeli compliance. Security cooperation did not remove every disagreement: in January 2025, Israeli Ambassador Yechiel Leiter raised concerns that Egyptian military construction in Sinai breached the treaty. During the war following the October 7 attacks, the two states maintained security dialogue and their commitment to the agreement despite hostile public rhetoric. [12][13][15]

A proposed change to the status of Tiran and Sanafir created another implementation issue. In 2016, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reached an agreement to transfer the islands from Egyptian to Saudi Arabian sovereignty. Egyptian nationalists challenged the proposal, and Egypt’s parliament approved the transfer agreement in June 2017. Because the islands are tied to treaty monitoring and navigation through the Straits of Tiran, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States and treaty monitors discussed safeguards for any transfer. Israel’s security guarantees, international monitoring and freedom of navigation remained essential conditions. [7][8]

Significance

The treaty was the first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab state and greatly reduced the risk of renewed war between Egypt and Israel. It demonstrated that direct negotiations could end an interstate conflict and produce a complete territorial return. Sadat’s Jerusalem visit broke a political taboo; Begin’s decision to withdraw from all Sinai made the settlement possible. Carter’s sustained mediation helped the leaders turn those decisions into an agreement. Egypt incurred a political cost amid hostility from other Arab states, which ostracized it over the treaty, although Sudan was among the Arab states that supported it. [1][2][4][16]

Peace has endured without making the two societies close partners. The treaty established embassies and security channels, while civilian collaboration remained limited and anti-Israel sentiment persisted in parts of Egyptian public life. A government-approved Egyptian textbook introduced in 2016 gave students more material on peace with Israel and required study of the treaty, illustrating education’s place in normalization. Israel’s later 1994 peace treaty with Jordan likewise addressed the aftermath of war. Later agreements, including the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement and the Israel–Sudan normalization agreement, formed part of a broader history of Arab relations with Israel. The 1979 treaty remains a foundation of regional diplomacy and security. [4][6][15][16]