“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9
Perpetual war, endless war, or a forever war, is a lasting state of war with no clear conditions that would lead to its conclusion. Perpetual war – Wikipedia
Israel was born out of warfare. Zionists defeated the British militarily and psychologically. The British left Palestine in ignominy in 1948.1 Triumphant Zionists then crushed the Arab opposition and announced a Jewish Homeland: Israel. Large numbers of Arabs became a permanent diaspora.2 Palestinians moved to Lebanon, Jordan and the Gaza Strip. They call this Nabka or catastrophe.
This began the forever war.
Anwar Sadat, 1918-1981
Sadat3 was an army officer and revolutionary. He was a risk-taker where failure was fatal. After the humiliation of the Six Day War, 1967, 4 Egypt lost significant amounts of territory to Israel. Sadat planned vengeance and led Egypt to success in the Yom Kippur War, 1973. The success reversed many Israeli territorial gains. Sadat had led the first Arab victory and became a hero. To avoid Forever Wars he began the process to negate its ingredients. Sadat brokered recognition of Israel’s right to exist.
Sadat knew only his bold leadership stood any sort of chance. His status was unquestioned. As a warrior-statesman he had the credentials to square the religious-ideological circle. The principal risk was Israeli good faith. Menachem Begin5 Israel’s prime minister had built his career on uncompromising Zionism.
Begin was Irgun’s leader. This was the principal Zionist terrorist group during the British Mandate. He was a merciless. Consequently, Britain put a bounty of £30,000 on his head in the early 1940s. (Corrected for inflation, this is £1.1M.6) Begin was the most wanted terrorist in Palestine.
Sadat and Begin had mutual status as warrior-statesmen, which meant their sincere rapprochement was accepted by most people. They were unflinching advocates for their countries. Only they had the status to pivot away from the cycle of violence, which shaped the political narrative.
The Nobel Prize citation said this,
The dramatic highlight in the efforts to arrive at a peaceful settlement was provided by President Anwar al-Sadat’s courageous journey to Jerusalem on November 19, 1977.
With his bold visit to the Israeli parliament, Knesset, President Sadat cut the Gordian knot at a single stroke.7
The invitation to Israel’s Knesset, by Begin, and Sadat’s acceptance should have been pivotal in Middle-Eastern history. There was amazement that Sadat meant what he said when he said that he’d do anything for peace,
“Mr. President, what would be our reaction if Israel should actually extend an invitation to you?” I replied calmly, I will accept it immediately. I have declared that I will go to the end of the world; I will go to Israel, for I want to put before the People of Israel all the facts.8
Sadat began his speech to the Knesset,
Peace and the mercy of God Almighty be upon you and may peace be for us all, God willing.9
Sadat continued by making the obvious but wilfully ignored point that, “no one can build his happiness at the expense of the misery of others.”10
He rightly identified the principal cause of forever wars. He said that there existed permanent barriers to trust which, “constitutes a psychological barrier between us. A barrier of suspicion. A barrier of rejection. A barrier of fear of deception. A barrier of hallucinations around any action, deed or decision. A barrier of cautious and erroneous interpretations of all and every event or statement. It is this psychological barrier which I described in official statements as representing 70 percent of the whole problem.”11
Menachem Begin, in his Nobel Prize speech, said this,
Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth. Peace is all of these and more and more.12
His rallying call was the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights,
“All human beings are born free and equal, in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.13
Conclusion
Begin and Sadat were warrior-statesmen who had participated in the horrors of terrorism and war. They staked everything for the cause of peace and failed. Lesser men relish war, believing it’s possible to impose their own world vision..
Sadat was assassinated by religious fanatics on the 6th October, 1981 at a military parade celebrating his triumph in the Yom Kippur war.14 The spiral of violence is now institutionalised and a Forever War.
Notes
1 Mandate for Palestine – Wikipedia
2 Causes of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight – Wikipedia
4 Six-Day War – Lead-Up, Battles & Legacy (history.com)
6 Inflation calculator | Bank of England
7 The Nobel Peace Prize 1978 – Presentation Speech – NobelPrize.org
8 Address by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to the Knesset (jewishvirtuallibrary.org)
9 loc.cit.
10 loc.cit.
11 loc.cit.
12 Menachem Begin – Nobel Lecture – NobelPrize.org
13 loc.cit.
14 What Anwar Sadat’s murder 40 years ago meant for the Middle East | Brookings
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