'Sinai is the blessed land, the crossing of prophets': Egyptian president on Liberation Day

CAIRO – 25 April 2021: On the 39th Sinai Liberation Day marking April 25, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi delivered Sunday a pre-recorded speech on the occasion.

"The great people of Egypt, I speak to you today on the 39th anniversary of the liberation of a precious part of Egypt, which is Sinai. It is the blessed land, the crossing of prophets, and the sacred spot that has always been a strategic depth to Egypt. It enjoys a deep rooted status in the hearts of all Egyptians. Sinai Liberation Day will always constitute a special memory in the soul of each Egyptian. The saga of land restoration has not just been a military and diplomatic victory. It is also an eternal example of defeating despair and disappointment in order to reinstate the military and political dignity. War has never been a goal of Egypt. On the contrary, peace has been the most valuable goal and the main aim.  

Today, we revive that glorious memory that composes a source to next generations to learn the values of pride, struggle, loyalty, and belonging. It is also an epitome of the determination on preserving national dignity, and a lesson to maintain national soil through work, diligence, and knowledge and not through wishes and slogans. We affirm to the world what has been proved by historical lessons that Egypt is able to sustain the gains of peace and pursue development and prosperity.

Brothers and sisters, our celebration today of the liberation of Sinai generates multiple driving forces towards working into defending every inch of the homeland's territory and fulfilling the ambitions and rights of its people in a prosperous present and a bright future characterized by freedom, dignity, safety and security as well as building, development, and advancement. You, Egyptians, have the right to be proud of yourselves and your homeland. The battle of building and development we are going into now is not less in terms of its challenges and ferocity of what our ancestors faced throughout our great nation's history.

That battle requires us to stand together in the back of the homeland to protect its valuables and preserve its sanctity with the aim of changing reality and achieving a better future for our children and grandchildren. This great homeland deserves that we commit all what is precious to us. My confidence in the great Egyptian people has no limit. My trust in its ability is absolute. My hope in the future is big. My dream for our dear Egypt is as glorious as it is, and our aspiration about the future will be made by our hands in the present.

I greet all who contributed in making that glorious day. I express respect and appreciation for all martyrs, the loyal children of Egypt who achieved that splendid victory for the homeland. That day will remain a cause of celebration for all Egyptians, an immortalization of the righteous victory and peace memories, a proof of all Egyptian heroism and military sacrifices as well as the competence of the Egyptian negotiator in preserving the soil of the homeland and its dignity with a strong determination."

Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights in the Six-Day War that began on June 5, 1967.

On October 6, 1973 at 2:00 p.m. (Cairo time) the Egyptian Armed Forces launched its war against the Israeli troops bringing down Bar Lev Line (a series of fortifications). 

As a result, the Israeli troops were forced to retreat 15 kilometers eastern the Suez Canal; meanwhile, Syrian troops waged the war near Golan Heights against the Israeli troops.

The rest was recovered through a peace treaty signed in 1979; except for Taba that Egypt retrieved by international arbitration in 1988. The Israeli withdrawal from Sinai occurred in stages that ended in 1982.