New York, NY, March 26, 2009 … On the 30th anniversary of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, which is being commemorated today, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reflects on the historic breakthrough of that accomplishment and its continuing significance today.

The League issued the following statement:

The 30th anniversary of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty is an occasion to reflect on what a historic breakthrough that was.  While many of the dreams connected with the peace treaty -- a warm and complete normalization with Egypt, solutions to the Palestinian and Syrian problems, a wider acceptance of Israel's legitimacy in the region -- have not been realized, the importance of what was accomplished 30 years ago seems all the more significant today.

How different Israel's security situation would be if Israel still had to contend with a powerful Egyptian enemy on its border.  How amazing it is with all of the regional complexities Egypt can act as an intermediary for Israel with the Arab world.  How significant continues to be the fact that the Arab world, as much as it still would like to isolate Israel, cannot avoid the reality that despite ups and downs, 30 years later, Egypt is still at peace with Israel.  And how important it is in the context of rising Islamic extremism through the region that Egypt's peace with Israel is the single largest negation of their rejectionism toward the Jewish state.

Thirty years later, we praise that great accomplishment.  We hope and pray that the peace can bloom into a warm and friendly one and be an actual model for peace throughout the Arab world.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.