User:John Z/drafts/Wikipedia:Featured article candidates Yom Kippur War
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- Raul, you say "there has been speculation that, even before the war was fought, he [Sadat] wanted to jump-start the peace process." That one could say this after reading and making major positive contributions to the article symbolizes why it needs more work before I could agree on calling it a featured article. For this is not "speculation" but rather the universal holding of serious scholarship and anyone in Israel or outside who was watching events as they happened. After the war, it led to real rage in Israel (IMHO entirely justified) against the "intransigent" (Meir's word) government of Golda Meir. There is not and never was the slightest doubt that Sadat publicly offered to sign a peace treaty with Israel in February 1971 before the war (and reiterated his offer afterwards). The USA for one welcomed and praised his "positive response" officially. He was refused because Israel was in a triumphal mood after the 6 day war and belittled their adversaries' military abilities. The USA in turn harshly criticized Israel's "negative response" to Sadat's response to Jarring's initiative (which had in turn been a response to American urging to Jarring, something left out of most accounts). In addition, during the war, Sadat was in constant communication with the USA saying his aim was just to get a piece of the Sinai to "jump-start" the process (more has just been declassified on this I think), although it is true that early success went to his head too. I think the article over-relies on Rabinowitz's book, and that the criticisms e.g. in Beinin's review should be taken more seriously - in particular I think his endorsement of Israeli mainstream scholarship as a superior alternative to accounts written for a popular audience like Rabinowitz is spot on. I would like to see much more on the leadup to the war - in particular, how it was and was not a surprise 212.179.81.67, El_C and Oraien, as well as the aftereffects - it was a real turning point in Israeli relations with its neighbors.