reestablished a political balance between Israel and the Arab confrontation states. Under the terms of an Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty signed on Mar. 26, 1979, Israel returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt. Hopes for an expansion of the peace process to include other Arab nations waned, however, when Egypt and Israel were subsequently unable to agree on a formula for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the 1980s regional tensions were increased by the activities of militant Palestinians and other Arab extremists and by several Israeli actions. The latter included the formal proclamation of the entire city of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital (1980), the annexation of the Golan Heights (1981), the invasion of southern Lebanon (1982), and the continued expansion of Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank....
