Sharm el-Sheikh Accords (Salaam 1973)

The Sharm el-Sheikh Accords was a landmark treaty between Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Syria that was signed in Sharm el-Sheikh in 1972, which ended the period of military conflict in the Levant and ushered in an (occasionally broken) peace that has lasted to this day.

Prelude
Following the death of Egypt's long time leader Gamal Nasser, the Egyptian government declared that it was willing to recognize the state of Israel and agree to peace settlements if Israel agreed to withdraw to its 1967 borders and, more controversially, withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories. The Israeli government initially dismissed this offer.

However, the Soviet Union, a close ally of Egypt and Syria, contacted the United States government and requested that they assist in necessitating negotiations, as neither side wished to see the region destabilized. After the Soviets privately admitted that they were unable to prevent conditions deteriorating or a declaration of war, the United States informed Israel that unless negotiations were made to ensure continuing peace with its neighboring nations, arms shippments to Israel would be cut off. The United States was Israel's main military supporter, and the loss of their support would have severly impacted Israel's ability to defend against numerically supperior enemies.

The Israeli government, against the wishes of many of its politicians, therefore asked the Egyptians, alongside delegations from Jordan and Syria, to meet them at a summit in the occupied Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh (which the Israelis had renamed Olifar) to discuss a lasting peace.