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[[File:Nixon_30-0316a.jpg|thumbnail|300px|left|President Richard Nixon]]
The 1973 Arab-Israeli War was a watershed moment for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. It forced the Nixon administration to realize that Arab frustration over Israel’s unwillingness to withdraw from the territories it had occupied in 1967 could have major strategic consequences for the United States. The war thus paved the way for Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s“shuttle diplomacy” and ultimately, the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979.
====Anwar Sadat proposed to reopen the Suez Canal====
[[File:Anwar_Sadat_cropped.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|Anwar Sadat arriving at Andrews Air Force Base.]]
In February 1971, however, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat presented the Nixon administration with a new opportunity for Arab-Israeli peacemaking. Sadat proposed that Egypt would reopen the Suez Canal if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pulled back from the Canal’s east bank and later agreed to a timetable for further withdrawals. He also indicated that he would renounce all claims of belligerency against Israel if the IDF withdrew to the international border.
