Al-Sadat makes an attempt to regain Sinai peacefully
General Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany Al-Gamasy said in his memoirs ( On 5th of February 1971, Al-Sadat declared a peace initiative and defined it in an address in May of the same year.
The initiative included a partial withdrawal of the Israeli Forces, as a primary stage for the complete withdrawal, in which Egypt could purify the Suez Canal and open it for international navigation. After that step, Egypt would accept extending cease-fire for a specific period in which the ambassador of the United Nations Mr. Jarring would put a time table to fulfill the resolution of the security council number 242.
Then, the Egyptian Forces would pass across the Suez Canal to the eastern bank, putting arrangements to separate between forces during the determined period of cease-fire. If this period ended without a tangible progress, the Egyptian forces would have the right to liberate their land by force, refusing any discussion around disarming Sinai, but Egypt could agree on disarmed areas on both sides of borders in accordance to the Security Council resolution, and refusing any aspect of the Israeli presence in Sharm Al-Sheikh.
Israel replied expressing the real intention, declaring that there are nothing new in that initiative and refused to withdraw from the eastern bank of the canal, and Moshe Dayan the defense minister of Israel declared that Israel had no intention to withdraw from the best line it had seized.
In the beginning of 1973, Egypt began an intensive political activity by communicating the main five countries of the permanent seats in the Security Council . Although the Soviet Union sustainment was clear, the British situation which was taken by the government of governors to make Israel withdraw to the international Egyptian borders was constant, the French understanding to our situation was strong, and the Chinese situation was primary with us, while the American situation was negative.
Egypt demanded to convene the Security Council to discuss the Middle East problem, and asked the general secretary of the United Nations to give a report about the mission of the special representative ambassador "Jarring" since November 1967, till the time of convening the council in July 1973.
On 26 of July 1973, the non-alignment countries voted for a resolution draft. It showed to the world the amount of sustainment to the Arabic right, where fourteen countries had voted for the resolution that condemned the continuation of the Israeli occupation to the Arab lands, but America dropped it by using "Veto".)General Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany Al-Gamasy
Anwar Al-Sadat said " Mohamed Hafez Ismail, the Egyptian presidential adviser for national security affairs, met Henry A. Kissinger, Assistant to the president for national security affairs, twice in 1973, Once in Paris and the other in the U.S.A.
Kissinger said "My advice to Al-Sadat is to be realistic, we live in the world of reality. And we can not build anything on the basis of hopes and imagination, and to know the fact, you are defeated, so do not ask like a winner, you have to offer concessions to get our help.
How you can dictate your conditions in spite of your defeat. Either you change the reality you live, so we consequently change our dealing for the situation, or you cannot. So we must find a solution that go well with your situation instead of the offered solutions.
I hope my words were clear; because I don’t ask Al-Sadat to change the military position, if he does it, Israel will make a greater victory than that in 1967. In that case it will be difficult for us to do anything and it will be a great loss for Egypt and for Al-Sadat personally, and he is a man I like to deal with one day."
Al-Sadat continued saying "Kissinger said that in February and April 1973, I thought that there is no use of America; because Israel had seized them and Americans still applying the policy of president Johnson which prefer Israel interests to Americans interests. And like what common Egyptian man said "Israel is the only guard for America interests in the Middle East"
That what Israel made of herself or what America made of it. The result in the two cases was the same, that no hope to achieve peace through America as long as Israel did not want peace." from Anwar Al-Sadat book "In Search of Identity"
Source: October War 1973, second edition 1998. General Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany Al-Gamasy chief of operations of Egyptian Army during the war. 