On the high Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in 1973, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq launched a surprise attack of their own. The attack caught the Israeli military completely unawares, and the attackers destroyed most of the equipment of the Israeli army and air force at the very outset of hostilities. Only a massive effort sponsored by U. S. president Richard Nixon saved Israel from being completely defeated by the Arab states.
Nixon stripped U. S. military forces in Europe and the United States of much of their equipment and airlifted planes and tanks to Israel. The Israelis were able, with this aid, to fight off their attackers. The Arab states blamed the United States for their defeat and declared an embargo on oil shipments to the United States and its European allies.
The oil embargo created shortages of gasoline and fuel oil in the United States and Europe. For the first time, some U. S. Congressmen openly questioned the special relationship between Israel and the United States. The cycle of violence between Palestinians and Jews continued with guerrilla raids and attacks on refugee camps.
In 1978 U. S. president Jimmy Carter arranged what promised to be a breakthrough meeting between Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Meeting at Camp David outside Washington, D. C., the two men reached
An agreement that established a lasting peace between Israel and Egypt.
The Israelis agreed to give up the territory they had conquered from Egypt during the Six-Day War in return for Egyptian recognition of the legitimacy of the state of Israel. Many people hoped at the time that the Camp David Accords would lead to similar arrangements with the other Arab nations, but this was not to be.
World History
