Israel and Egypt are taking steps toward a stronger friendship this week. The first commercial Egyptair flight landed at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Sunday, according to jns.org, a major show of goodwill between the two. Egyptair, the official national airline of Egypt, will now fly four nonstop, roundtrip commercial flights weekly between Cairo and Tel Aviv.
The two nations have officially been at peace since signing the 1979 Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty following the Camp David Accords in 1978. But it’s been described as a “cold peace,” one of hesitancy and shadowed in distrust. Egypt was an aggressive enemy of the Jewish state when it was established. It warred against Israel but failed to destroy them in both the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Despite the agreements signed following these wars, the relationship hasn’t been particularly fruitful, just healthy enough to keep tensions at bay. So this new undertaking is a great sign of hope for the countries’ relationship.
It’s a welcome sight to see Egypt offering open arms toward Israel instead of armed conflict. It will be interesting to see the reaction to this decision from other neighboring Arab countries, but Egypt is right to move forward, and hopefully outside pressure will not disrupt its growing relationship with Israel in any negative way. Though flights between the nations are a long overdue move, if you had told an Egyptian or Israeli about this 50 years ago, they might have laughed you out of the building. We’re excited to see Egypt as a more steadfast ally, or at least not an enemy, of Israel, which is as important as ever in these still tense times.
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