or a joint attack and with King FAISAL ofSaudi Arabia to finance the operations.Egypt and Syria attacked on Oct. 6, 1973, pushing Israeliforces several miles behind the 1967 cease-fire lines. Israelwas thrown off guard, partly because the attack came on YomKippur (the Day of Atonement), the most sacred Jewish religiousday (coinciding with the Muslim fast of Ramadan). AlthoughIsrael recovered from the initial setback, it failed to regainall the territory lost in the first days of fighting. Incounterattacks on the Egyptian front, Israel seized a majorbridgehead behind the Egyptian lines on the west bank of thecanal. In the north, Israel drove a wedge into the Syrianlines, giving it a foothold a few miles west of Damascus.After 18 days of fighting in the longest Arab-Israeli war since1948, hostilities were again halted by the UN. The costs werethe greatest in any battles fought since World War II. TheArabs lost some 2,000 tanks and more than 500 planes; theIsraelis, 804 tanks and 114 planes. The 3-week war cost Egyptand Israel about $7 billion each, in material and losses fromdeclining industrial production or damage.The political phase of the 1973 war ended with disengagementagreements accepted by Israel, Egypt, and Syria afternegotiations in 1974 and 1975 by U.S. Secretary of State HenryA. KISSINGER. The agreements provided for Egyptianreoccupation of a strip of land in Sinai along the east bank ofthe Suez Canal and for Syrian control of a small area aroundthe Golan Heights town of Kuneitra. UN forces were stationedon both fronts to oversee observance of the agreements, whichreestablished a political balance between Israel and the Arabconfrontation states.Under the terms of an Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty signed onMar. 26, 1979, Israel returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt.Hopes for an expansion of the peace process to include otherArab nations waned, however, when Egypt and Israel weresubsequently unable to agree on a for...
