WATANI International
4 October 2009
Next Tuesday Egypt marks Armed Forces Day, commemorating the 6 October War when, in 1973, the Egyptian army crossed the Suez Canal and attacked the Israelis on the eastern bank. The Israelis had occupied Sinai during the Six Day War in 1967 and, until Egypt managed to cross over and land in Sinai in 1973, Egyptians had lived an excruciating sense of humiliation and defeat.
The October War was thus instrumental in regaining Egyptian honour. Anwar al-Sadat, the president who took the decision to go to war with Israel in 1973 and later signed the Camp David peace agreement in 1979, is frequently termed the hero of war and peace. He was assassinated on 6 October 1981 at the hands of Islamists, while attending a military parade in honour of the occasion.
Sadat was buried under the Unknown Soldier memorial which commemorates the soldiers who died for their country in the October War. The picture shows the memorial, built in the form of a pyramid frame. Page 3 carries the story of Sadat as depicted in a museum established in his honour at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.