Long weekend: 5 Oct. holiday for Egypt’s employees to celebrate war anniversary

CAIRO – 27 September 2023: Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said Thursday 5 October will be a day off for public and private sector employees to commemorate the 1973 War anniversary.

The decision applies to employees in ministries, government institutions, public authorities, local administrative units, public companies, public enterprise sector companies and private sector companies.

Thursday will be off instead of Friday on which the 50th anniversary of the war falls as Friday is an official weekend day in Egypt.

The 6th of October War marks the victory of Egypt, which was leading a coalition of Arab countries in a war mainly fought in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan heights, against Israeli occupation in 1973.

The October war constitutes a significant victory for the Egyptian Armed Forces, which paved the way for the full restoration of Sinai, six years after Israeli occupied the peninsula in the Six-day War of 1967.

A few years after the war, Israel returned Sinai in full to Egypt as per the 1978 Camp David Accords signed by late Egyptian President Anwar El-Sadat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in the US.

In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a landmark peace treaty, which made Egypt the first Arab country to recognize Israel.