Egypt Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== President Sadat (1970–1981) ==== [[File:Egyptian Armor.jpg|thumb|Egyptian tanks advancing in the Sinai desert during the [[Yom Kippur War]], 1973]] In 1970, President Nasser died and was succeeded by [[Anwar Sadat]]. Sadat switched Egypt's [[Cold War]] allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling Soviet advisors in 1972. He launched the [[Infitah]] economic reform policy, while clamping down on religious and secular opposition. In 1973, Egypt, along with Syria, launched the [[Fourth Arab-Israeli War]] (Yom Kippur War), a surprise attack to regain part of the Sinai territory Israel had captured 6 years earlier. [[File:Begin, Carter and Sadat at Camp David 1978.jpg|thumb|Celebrating the signing of the 1978 [[Camp David Accords]]: [[Menachem Begin]], [[Jimmy Carter]], [[Anwar Sadat]]]] In 1975, Sadat shifted Nasser's economic policies and sought to use his popularity to reduce government regulations and encourage foreign investment through his programme of Infitah. Through this policy, incentives such as reduced taxes and import tariffs attracted some investors, but investments were mainly directed at low risk and profitable ventures like tourism and construction, abandoning Egypt's infant industries.<ref>Amin, Galal. ''Egypt's Economic Predicament: A Study in the Interaction of External Pressure, Political Folly, and Social Tension in Egypt, 1960–1990'', 1995</ref> Because of the elimination of subsidies on basic foodstuffs, it led to the [[1977 Egyptian Bread Riots]]. Sadat made a [[Anwar Sadat's visit to Israel, 1977|historic visit to Israel in 1977]], which led to the 1979 [[Egypt–Israel peace treaty|Egypt-Israel peace treaty]] in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. In return, Egypt recognised Israel as a legitimate sovereign state. Sadat's initiative sparked enormous controversy in the [[Arab world]] and led to Egypt's expulsion from the [[Arab League]], but it was supported by most Egyptians.<ref>{{cite book|last=Vatikiotis|first=P.J.|title=The History of Modern Egypt: From Muhammad Ali to Mubarak|year=1991|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|location=London|isbn=978-0-297-82034-5|page=443|edition=4.}}</ref> [[Assassination of Anwar Sadat|Sadat was assassinated]] by an Islamic extremist in October 1981. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page