15 June 2003
Field Marshal Moham-med Abdel Ghani Al Gamasy, one of the architects of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and a top negotiator in the ensuing cease-fire that eventually led to the Camp David accords, passed away in Cairo on June 7 at the age of 81.
Gamasy, who was born on September 9, 1921, rose to prominence in Egyptian life as the Egyptian army's chief of operations during the 1973 war, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel to regain territory lost during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Like many of his contemporaries, Gamasy felt that Arabs had been humiliated by the 1967 defeat and thought that the 1973 offensive could restore Arab honor as well as help regain the Sinai Peninsula.
Although Egyptian troops made impressive progress in the initial stages of the war, including a heroic crossing of the Suez Canal, the Israelis later gained the upper hand. Gamasy was dispatched as then-Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat's top cease-fire negotiator, during which he earned the respect of his Israeli counterparts.
According to witness reports, Gamasy was angry at Sadat's willingness to keep only 20 to 30 tanks east of the Suez Canal after Egyptian troops had suffered massive losses crossing it.
"What a heavy price we paid to get our tanks into Sinai," he is reported to have said in veteran Egyptian journalist – and one-time Sadat confidante - Muhammad Hassanein Heikal's account of the Sadat years, Autumn of Fury."
In his own account of the period, The October War, Gamasy wrote that he once told Sadat: "This is Egyptian land conquered by the Egyptian forces, with the price of blood, of sacrifice. How can I withdraw my army like this?"
Heikal writes that Gamasy left that meeting with tears in his eyes, to irritation of Henry Kissinger, the American Secretary of State who was brokering the cease-fire.
"'Is anything the matter, General?' he [Kissinger] asked. 'No sir,' said Gamasy. 'Orders are orders.'"
After the war, when he quickly rose to the post of Minister of War, he proved less willing to follow Sadat's orders.
In January 1977, widespread rioting against Sadat's unpopular measure to reduce subsidies on basic necessities such as bread led him to ask Gamasy to use the army to squash the protests. Sadat had pledged Gamasy after the war that the army would never be used against Egyptian civilians, and the general reminded his president of his pledge: "I cannot let you have any of my men," he said, according to Heikal's account.
Eventually, Gamasy obtained from Sadat that he would revoke his decision to cut subsidies. As the army moved in to put an end to the rioting and looting, Egyptian radio blared that the new economic measure had been canceled. It ended the most serious upheaval in Egyptian political life to have taken place since the 1952 revolution.
Gamasy retired in 1981 after Hosni Mubarak became president in the wake of Sadat's assassination. He became a military consultant, traveling to the US and the Soviet Union and many Arab countries. Among other things, he advised Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
He is survived by two daughters and a son.
Field Marshal Moham-med Abdel Ghani Al Gamasy, one of the architects of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and a top negotiator in the ensuing cease-fire that eventually led to the Camp David accords, passed away in Cairo on June 7 at the age of 81.
Gamasy, who was born on September 9, 1921, rose to prominence in Egyptian life as the Egyptian army's chief of operations during the 1973 war, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel to regain territory lost during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Like many of his contemporaries, Gamasy felt that Arabs had been humiliated by the 1967 defeat and thought that the 1973 offensive could restore Arab honor as well as help regain the Sinai Peninsula.
Although Egyptian troops made impressive progress in the initial stages of the war, including a heroic crossing of the Suez Canal, the Israelis later gained the upper hand. Gamasy was dispatched as then-Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat's top cease-fire negotiator, during which he earned the respect of his Israeli counterparts.
According to witness reports, Gamasy was angry at Sadat's willingness to keep only 20 to 30 tanks east of the Suez Canal after Egyptian troops had suffered massive losses crossing it.
"What a heavy price we paid to get our tanks into Sinai," he is reported to have said in veteran Egyptian journalist – and one-time Sadat confidante - Muhammad Hassanein Heikal's account of the Sadat years, Autumn of Fury."
In his own account of the period, The October War, Gamasy wrote that he once told Sadat: "This is Egyptian land conquered by the Egyptian forces, with the price of blood, of sacrifice. How can I withdraw my army like this?"
Heikal writes that Gamasy left that meeting with tears in his eyes, to irritation of Henry Kissinger, the American Secretary of State who was brokering the cease-fire.
"'Is anything the matter, General?' he [Kissinger] asked. 'No sir,' said Gamasy. 'Orders are orders.'"
After the war, when he quickly rose to the post of Minister of War, he proved less willing to follow Sadat's orders.
In January 1977, widespread rioting against Sadat's unpopular measure to reduce subsidies on basic necessities such as bread led him to ask Gamasy to use the army to squash the protests. Sadat had pledged Gamasy after the war that the army would never be used against Egyptian civilians, and the general reminded his president of his pledge: "I cannot let you have any of my men," he said, according to Heikal's account.
Eventually, Gamasy obtained from Sadat that he would revoke his decision to cut subsidies. As the army moved in to put an end to the rioting and looting, Egyptian radio blared that the new economic measure had been canceled. It ended the most serious upheaval in Egyptian political life to have taken place since the 1952 revolution.
Gamasy retired in 1981 after Hosni Mubarak became president in the wake of Sadat's assassination. He became a military consultant, traveling to the US and the Soviet Union and many Arab countries. Among other things, he advised Iraqi President Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
He is survived by two daughters and a son.
By Issandr AlAmrani Middle East Times
© Middle East Times 2003
