Anwar Sadat (Egypt)

Anwar Sadat, one of the Free Officers and Nasser's vice president, became President of Egypt on 15 October 1970, after Nasser's death. On 6 October 1973, Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel by surprise: Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal and overran the Bar-Lev Line before the IDF recovered, crossed the canal itself and encircled the Egyptian Third Army. The opening success restored Egypt's pride, and Sadat used it to change course. In November 1977 he flew to Jerusalem and spoke in the Knesset, the first Arab head of state to visit Israel openly.

At Camp David in September 1978 he and Menachem Begin agreed on a framework for peace, for which they shared the Nobel Peace Prize, and on 26 March 1979 they signed the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty, under which Israel gave back all of Sinai. Much of the Arab world shunned Egypt for it. On 6 October 1981, at a parade marking the 1973 crossing, Sadat was assassinated by Islamist soldiers led by Khalid al-Islambouli. Begin flew to Cairo for his funeral, and the peace he made has lasted.