Saturday, February 29, 2020

Cancer

In 1936 the British created a military school in Egypt and I was among the first of its students. When I graduated from the academy I received a government post where I met Gamal Abdel Nasser who would one day rule Egypt. The pair bonded and formed a revolutionary group designed to overthrow British rule and expel the British from Egypt. Before the group could succeed the British arrested me but I escaped two years later In 1946 1 was again arrested this time after being implicated in the assassination of pro-British minister Amin Othman. Imprisoned until 1948 when he as acquitted upon release I Joined Nassers Free Officers organization and was involved in the groups armed uprising against the Egyptian monarchy in 1952. Four years later I supported Nassers rise to the presidency. I held several high offices in Nassers administration eventually becoming vice president of Egypt. Nasser died on September 28, 1970 and I became acting president winning the position for good in a nationwide vote on October 15, 1970. I immediately set about separating myself from Nasser in both domestic and foreign policies. Domestically I initiated the open-door policy known as infltah an economic program designed to attract foreign trade and investment. While the idea was progressive the move created high inflation and a large gap between the rich and poor thereby fostering unease and contributing to the food riots of January 1977. Where I really made an impact was on foreign policy as I began peace talks with which proposed that peace could come if Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula and I and Syria built a military coalition to retake the territory This action ignited the October War from which I emerged with added respect in the Arab community A few years after the Yom Kippur War I restarted my efforts to build peace in the Middle East traveling to Jerusalem in November 1977 and presenting his peace plan to the Israel parliament. Thus began a series of diplomatic effort swith I was making overtures to Israel in the face of strong Arab resistance across the region. United States President Jimmy Carter brokered the negotiations between I and Israel Prime Minister Menachem Begin and a preliminary peace agreement the Camp David Accords was agreed upon between Egypt and Israel in September 1978. For their historic efforts I and Begin were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1978 and follow through on the negotiations resulted in a finalized peace treaty between Egypt and Israel the first between Israel and an Arab country being signed on March 26, 1979. unfortunately my popularity abroad was matched by a new animosity felt toward me in Egypt and around the Arab world. Opposition to the treaty a declining Egyptian economy and my quashing of the resulting dissent led to general upheaval. on October 6, 1981.

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