April 2, 1979
A week after signing the peace treaty with Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin visits Cairo, the first time an Israeli prime minister has visited an Arab capital city. Amid an extreme heat wave pushing temperatures to 108 degrees, Begin is greeted at the airport by about 25 Egyptian politicians, plus journalists and a military band playing Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah.” With the Israeli and Egyptian flags waving together above the tarmac, the trip signals an era of improved relations between the previously warring countries.
After shaking the hands of political, academic and military leaders, Begin and his entourage spend the day sightseeing, including the Giza pyramids, war memorials, and a prayer service at Cairo’s Gates of Heaven Synagogue, where the prime minister is warmly greeted by the Jewish community.
At a dinner hosted by President Anwar Sadat, Begin says as part of a toast: “We appeal to those who, for the time being, took or were misled to take negative attitude or relinquish that futile negativism and join us in the peace-making effort for their benefit as for ours. I am convinced that in God’s good time, they will do so.”
In meetings the next day, Begin and Sadat agree to hold further talks in El-Arish and Be’er Sheva to discuss the opening of borders and further push the peace process. The leaders agree to begin a series of exchanges of Cabinet ministers, beginning with Moshe Dayan, who is to visit Cairo the following week.
