Egypt

This chapter examines how Egypt has sought to reconcile its traditional role as an Arab regional leader with its new role as Israel’s partner in the “peace process”. It shows how Egyptian policy-makers have been bound to face haid choices between incompatibles in the 1980s. In the post-war period Egypt prided itself on being at the forefront of Arab nationalism based on “anti-colonialism and anti-Zionism.” Egypt’s foreign policy role-restructuring was complete in the late 1970s with the signing of the 1978 Camp David accords and especially the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. A new Egyptian leadership—under Husni Mubarak—came face to face with role-conflict only nine months after it came to power, when in June 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon. Egyptian policy-makers were in close contact with Palestinian officials before the declaration to counsel moderation and especially to guarantee explicit acceptance of the principle of the existence of the state of Israel.