Egypt's First Lady: On Sinai Liberation Day, flags returned to fly high over every inch of it

CAIRO – 25 April 2024: On the 42nd Anniversary of Sinai Liberation, Egypt’s First Lady Entissar El-Sisi gave a fitting tribute to those who sacrificed and fought in the most honorable of battles.

“On this day, the Egyptian flags returned to fly over every inch of Sinai. A due tribute to all those who sacrificed and fought the most honorable battles so that the nation could regain its pride,” she said on Thursday.

The liberation of Sinai presents a unique model of political, military and diplomatic victory. It opened the path to peace and restored the Egyptian state’s sovereignty over its entire national territory with the departure of the last Israeli occupier.

On April 25 of every year, Egypt celebrates Sinai Liberation Day, when the last Israeli soldier was expelled, and the Egyptian flag was raised on the turquoise land [Sinai] on April 25, 1982.

Sinai fell into the hands of the Israeli occupier after the defeat of June 1967. However, within only a few days, Egypt began fierce battles to reclaim the land, the results of which were a shock to the Israeli military establishment. The battles were known as the War of Attrition.

The confrontation on the battlefield began from September 1968 to October 6, 1973, when the Egyptian forces announced the start of the transit war that Egypt waged against Israel.

The Egyptian Forces stormed the Suez Canal and the Bar Lev Line, which led to the restoration of full sovereignty over the Suez Canal, the recovery of part of the lands in the Sinai Peninsula and the return of navigation in the Suez Canal in June 1975.

The October War also paved the way for the Camp David Accord between Egypt and Israel, which was held in September 1978, following the historic Sadat initiative in November 1977 and his visit to Jerusalem.

It should be noted that by the sixteenth day of the October War, the second phase of completing the liberation of the land through political negotiations began. Resolution No. 338 was issued to stop all military actions, starting from October 22, 1973, after the intervention of the United States of America and member states of the Security Council.

Egypt accepted the resolution and implemented it on the evening of its issuance, but the Israeli forces' violation of the resolution led the Security Council to issue another one on October 23, committing all parties to the ceasefire. Israel committed and agreed to this resolution, and participated in military negotiations to separate the forces, which led to complete ceasefire on October 28, 1973, with the arrival of the international emergency forces on the battlefield in Sinai.

The peace treaty between Egypt and Israel led to a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and the return of Egyptian sovereignty over all of its Egyptian territory. At the time, a timetable was set for the phased withdrawal from Sinai.

Additional reporting by Mustafa Marie