Egypt Accepts the Cease-Fire
(October 22, 1973)
On 22 October Egypt decided to accept the cease-fire. Unlike Syria, the Egyptian Government did not condition its acceptance on its understanding of Security Council Resolution 242. Text of the Egyptian acceptance:
President Sadat has studied with great care the Security Council Resolution adopted this morning, calling for a cease-fire within a 12-hour delay and immediate and full implementation of the UN Resolution of 22 November.
The Arab armed forces have confirmed their courage, skill, and martyrdom on the battlefield and it was this great action alone that has broken the deadlock in the crisis.
President Sadat also has studied with great care details of the Security Council debate and noted the following points:
1. The draft Resolution debated by the Security Council was submitted by the two super Powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, after intensive contacts between them at the highest levels and bearing in mind their special responsibility toward current international situations.
2. The Security Council adopted the draft Resolution without objections from any of its members.
3. The debate which took place in the Council was of great importance and shed necessary light on its attitudes. In this connection the statements of the French and Indian delegates were of particular importance.
Other important factors to be taken into consideration include the following:
1. The peace plan which President Sadat broadcast to the nation and the world in his speech to the People's Assembly (Parliament) and the Central Committee of the Arab Socialist Union on 16 October, in which the President made complete (Israeli) withdrawal a basic point of any political action.
2. Talks held by President Sadat and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Cairo on 16-19 October, when five working sessions were held.
3. Assurances which President Sadat received from Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev and which were conveyed to Sadat in a special message by the Soviet ambassador to Cairo on the night of 21 October.
4. Contacts which took place with a number of Arab capitals directly concerned in the battle.
President Sadat also took into consideration that the powerful factor which has changed the nature and circumstances of the entire Middle East crisis was highlighted and strengthened by the great action which the Arab armed forces have carried out and are carrying out, and in which they confirmed their courage, skill and martyrdom on the field of battle.
This great action alone has broken the deadlock in the crisis, changed the fait accompli and the whole map of the Middle East crisis and ended for ever the arrogance and power which the Israeli enemy had been displaying for the past 25 years.
In accordance with the above considerations, President Sadat, in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, has issued an order to the general command to observe a cease-fire at the time laid down by the Security Council Resolution, provided the enemy is also committed to observe it.
President Sadat, in taking this decision on his own historic responsibility, considers that the main credit in this first stage of a decisive phase in the pan-Arab and Egyptian struggle is due to the firm stand taken by the whole Arab nation and to the deep awareness of its peoples as well as, above all, to the heroism of the men who accepted the challenge of fire and blood on the battlefield. God's victory for them was certain.
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