Workers World, Vol. 19, No. 45
November 21 – The deed has been done. No amount of disclaimers or vociferous protestations by the governing clique of Sadat can erase his act of treachery from the annals of Arab history.
Sadat’s trip to Israel was more than mere symbolism, as the worldwide bourgeois press depicts it. It was de facto recognition of the puppet state of Israel and an unvarnished bid for open reconciliation, not merely with Israel but with U.S. finance capital in particular.
The recognition is a shameful and utterly indefensible capitulation to the demands of the most brazen reactionaries in the camp of imperialism. It flies in the face of the sentiments of virtually all of the oppressed workers and peasants, and the mass of the Arab people in general.
By appointing himself as spokesman for the Arab people and arrogating to himself the role of negotiator without the consent of any of the other Arab people, Sadat and his co-conspirators have severed any and all relationship of true affinity with what he himself has so often called the Arab nation.
The overall immediate purpose of the trip, as seen by U.S. Under Secretary of State Philip Habib and repeated over and over again by the bourgeois commentators, was to “transform the psychological atmosphere in the Middle East.” By this is meant beginning a process of disintegration of anti-imperialist solidarity – breaking the bonds of friendship between the oppressed masses of Egypt and the other Arab countries.
The effect of the Sadat desertion is to hold up to ridicule the many resolutions condemning Israel and supporting the PLO passed by the UN and to trample on world public opinion.
At this moment – the day after he left Jerusalem – it’s too early to gauge the sentiment of the Egyptian people themselves. We know, of course, that the Egyptian bourgeoisie, or certainly a very formidable section of it, was solidly behind his projected visit to Israel. The question is whether the exploited and oppressed masses have the option and the ability to intervene on their own behalf against the Sadat ruling clique.
The virtually universal wrath of the Arab masses outside of Egypt could have an extremely intimidating effect on the Egyptian bourgeoisie and its military and bureaucratic apparatus. But it is too early to tell. The controlled press in Egypt has thus far shown itself to be completely under the domination of the Sadat grouping, while the military, which can at times of peril to the social regime detach itself momentarily from the class interests of the bourgeoisie, seems utterly silent.
They are a poor reed for the masses to lean on for salvation. Failing the intervention of the popular masses in Egypt, it will only be the external pressure flowing from the deep resentment of the popular masses elsewhere in the Arab world that will force any rupture within the Sadat bourgeois establishment. The resignations of Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy and his deputy Mohammed Riad are significant in this respect, and my be a harbinger of things to come.
The fact that Sadat came home empty-handed, and in complete disregard of the rights of the Palestinians, is enough ammunition to ignite a revolutionary conflagration against the conspirators with imperialism and Zionism.
The most striking aspect of the propaganda which has saturated the U.S. media since Sadat stepped off the Boeing 707 plane in Jerusalem is the chorus of official joy at this “great happening.” The U.S. ruling class, with unmitigated gall and arrogance, permitted its kept press and media to wonder out loud why the rest of the world did not join in the chorus of joy at this act of infamy. What they expected most of all was for the Saudi Arabian monarchy, Jordan’s CIA-agent king, and the Assad regime in Syria to join in approval of Sadat’s Jerusalem adventure. Yet, the imperialist press could scarcely hide the fears they have entertained all along about the risk that Sadat was taking in his projected visit.
Presumably the trip was planned without Carter’s knowledge. What a farce! What deceit! Such a shameless announcement from Washington can scarcely have any credibility, even with the most naïve. Carter himself forgets from day to day his own admissions.
As late as Saturday, just hours before Sadat landed in Jerusalem, Carter admitted that he had been in daily conversation with both Begin and Sadat. Only a flunky media that has gone hog-wild and practically drunk with the success of its venture could possibly have failed to point up the sharp contradiction between the White House’s claim that it was a “bold initiative” on the part of Sadat and the fact that Carter had been in daily conversation with both the Israel Premier and Sadat.
What were they talking about up until the last minute except the nature of the visit and other matters which sill remain to be revealed? But the imperialist bourgeoisie has much to worry about, notwithstanding its momentary success.
It is not bayonets and bullets alone which have given American finance capital a material basis for its dangerous game in the Middle East. It is the existence of a comprador bourgeoisie, the most formidable part of which is in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, as well as other parts of the Arab world. These are the “peace parties” in the Arab world. They want no struggle with imperialism, let alone war, and they have a deadly fear of the wrath of the masses. For such a war would surely arouse the masses and have the potential of sweeping the bourgeoisie off the stage of history.
Take the Saudis. The Carter administration is said to be greatly disappointed that such a good friend (or pliable tool) as the royal family could come out against the Sadat Jerusalem adventure. And why would they? Because they live in deadly fear of the masses.
The Khalid monarchy is a totalitarian dictatorship, one of the most absolute in the world, without the least connection with the masses. Approving the Sadat visit would, in the eyes of even the most obtuse member of the royal entourage, spark the long-awaited first mass popular uprising. Saudi Arabia is now the principal financier, that is the principal trustee, to dispense funds approved by the U.S. to all others.
During the 1973 October war, the Saudi Arabian monarchy was held up as a leader of the Arab cause because of the oil embargo. What was lost sight of in the huge political buildup of the “strong stand” of the royal family was that the oil embargo, as an instrument of anti-imperialist struggle, was the least effective, least offensive method from the point of view of involving the masses. The oil embargo was a boycott. It did not involve the participation of the masses in any struggle. In fact, it had the effect of stifling any type of struggle.
The struggle was left entirely in the hands of the hereditary political machinery of the Saudi state and its well-trained American managerial staff. In this way any intervention of the masses was completely sealed off.
The test of such intervention is still ahead and the Saudi disapproval of the Sadat visit cannot be seen as an act hostile to imperialism or to the conciliatory efforts of Sadat, but rather as a calculated effort to stave off a popular mass intervention.
The case in Syria varies widely from Saudi Arabia because Syria has been the object of direct military attack by the Israelis. The Golan Heights are occupied by the Israeli garrison state on behalf of the Pentagon. Nevertheless, President Assad on behalf of the Syrian bourgeoisie crushed the Palestinian struggle with no less brutality than did King Hussein of Jordan in the days of Black September.
While both Hussein and Assad are most anxious to regain the lands occupied by the Israelis, their antipathy to the Palestinian Revolution is so flagrant they can scarcely be regarded as even ambivalent, temporary allies to the Palestinians in the struggle against the Israeli aggressors.
All this illustrates that what is wanting in the Arab lands is that type of anti-imperialist solidarity which is thoroughly and completely consistent with the interests of the socialist revolution. Only a leadership with a working class and Marxist outlook can supply this.
Sadat’s treachery did not fall from heaven. It is rooted in the social conditions, in contemporary class relations in Egypt and in all the Arab lands. It proves once again that what is ultimately decisive is not the numerical strength of the nations arrayed against imperialism but the constellation of basic class forces – the world proletariat and oppressed against the imperialist bourgeoisie and its agents. Bourgeois leadership of the anti-imperialist struggle is at best half-way, ambivalent, inconsistent, vacillating, and with a strong penchant in the direction of the enemy camp.
While the imperialist bourgeoisie and their comprador agents and servitors can claim a temporary victory, it is this type of victory which has opened up the eyes of the broad masses of people. It has made plainer than ever the imperative need and great urgency of reliance on the working class and peasantry in a common bloc under revolutionary Marxist leadership as the only sure way to clear the Arab lands of imperialist domination and bourgeois reaction and exploitation.
Last updated: 11 May 2026