The widow of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, 87-year-old Jehan Sadat, the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel, died in Egypt on Friday, the country’s state news agency MENA reported.
In recent weeks, local media reported that Jahan was in an Egyptian hospital and was battling cancer. Last year, Jahan received medical treatment in the United States, but shortly after returning home, his condition worsened, his family told the local press. Further details about his illness were not made available.
On Friday, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s office mourned Jahan as a role model for Egyptian women, presented her with a prestigious national award and announced the naming of a major highway in Cairo after her.
Jahan was born in Cairo in August 1933 to an Egyptian middle-class father and a British mother. In 1949, she was married to Anwar Sadat, a military officer at the time, who later served as President of Egypt from 1970 until his assassination in 1981. The couple had three daughters, Noah, Gihan, Lobna, and a son, Jamal.
Sadat was the first Arab leader to visit Israel and address the Knesset in 1977. He led the peace initiative between Egypt and Israel, earning him praise as a visionary and champion of peace, but also much criticism at home. Jehan with her husband was meeting with Israeli leaders in the Jewish state.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is surrounded by security personnel cheering the crowd upon his arrival in Israel on November 19, 1977. (AP photo)
She was a longtime teacher with a doctoral degree in comparative literature and the author of several books, including “My Hope for Peace,” about the Middle East conflict.
“I am very optimistic that what my husband did, for which he gave his life, will never go in vain. I believe, although I am not young, that I will see peace between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East prevail , and I am a very realistic woman. I am not living in fantasy or illusion,” she added, CNN In 2009, marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Israel-Egypt peace agreement.
At the signing of the Camp David Accords, “It was unforgettable to see the Israeli delegation and the Egyptian delegation and the US delegation and instead of enemies they were friends, talking and negotiating. It was something that I can never forget. My tears were coming down, I could hardly control them, because I was so happy to see that we are all like a family,” she said.
(L to R) Egypt’s First Lady Jehan Sadat with Israel’s First Lady Ofira Navon in the birthplace of Anwar Sadat, village of Mit Abul Kom. 1980. (Yakov Abstract/GPO Photo Archive)
Since the peace deal with Egypt, Israel has also made a treaty with neighboring Jordan in 1994. Last year, Jerusalem normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.