The memory of the Yom Kippur War -- of the initial failure and being taken by surprise, as well as of the fallen -- accompanies Israeli society to this day, hanging like a dark cloud and casting a shadow over it more than any other war in our history. This memory overshadows the incredible military achievements of that war, making it hard for us, as the years pass, to judge its results. After all, looking back, the war signaled -- due to how it unfolded and ended -- a turning point in Israel's relationship to the Arab world. It was the last conventional war in which Israel stood against a military threat posed by standing Arab armies. This threat accompanied Israel from its inception and reached its apex in the 1967 Six-Day and 1973 Yom Kippur wars, but since then has dissipated. Today, the scenario of an all-out war is no longer possible. Egypt, which for decades spearheaded the struggle against Israel, signed a peace accord with us in the wake of the Yom Kippur War. This accord is strong and stable, and both countries are working to bolster it further. Syria, meanwhile, has imploded through the long, bloody civil war raging there. In terms of a direct existential threat, as was posed by the Arab armies in 1967 and 1973, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, Israel's last remaining adversary in its immediate vicinity, is a gimmick. More specifically, it does not possess the territorial and demographic depth that Egypt and Syria had at the time. The damage it can inflict can surely be painful, as might be expected of a terrorist organization with an arsenal of missiles, but it lacks the ability that Egypt and Syria had to cope with a conventional war against Israel. Delivering a decisive opening blow, if it tries provoking Israel, is a matter of decision and willingness on Israel's part to pay the inherent price. In the past, Israel has made such decisions, for instance on the eve of the Six-Day War and during the Yom Kippur War; and should the moment of truth come, there is no reason it would not be able to make a similar decision against Hezbollah. Beyond all of this, it is important to note that the low point of the Yom Kippur War was in fact the moment that compelled national introspection and self-correction, which turned Israel into a military power unequaled by any other force in the region, and into an economically robust and democratically stable country, despite the hardships Israeli society has endured. The Arab world, in the meantime, chose a different path, or rather persisted along the same dead-end road it had been on since the onset of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It has been a path of devotion to hostility and hatred, but also of devotion to the traditions of the past and rejection of innovation or change. The only one who attempted to set foot on a different path was late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, the architect of the Yom Kippur War, who in its aftermath sought to establish peaceful relations with Israel. For Sadat, the war and subsequent peace agreement were meant to serve as a springboard for amending flaws in Egyptian society and rehabilitating the country's economy. Sadat knew as well as anyone in October 1973 that celebrating an imaginary victory would not lead the Arabs anywhere, as illustrated by the current situations in Egypt and Syria, and which will be seen down the road by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who portrayed the pummeling he and his people received in the summer of 2006 as a "divine victory." Sadat's path was not clean of flaws and potholes. However, Egypt's ability to stand on its own two feet throughout the violent storm that has hit the region in recent years stems from Sadat's strategic choice in favor of peace, to which his successors are also obligated. Israel's might was proved in that war, despite the terrible fiasco at its beginning. Today, too, Israel's military clout and economic and social fortitude are the foundation of its prosperity. It is also the reason that more and more Arabs are admitting the need to recognize Israel and establish peaceful relations with it. This is an important lesson in our region, a region of shifting sands where countries and societies collapse, entire populations are uprooted from their homes, and hundreds of thousands of people are slaughtered by tyrants and their neighbors, while the world remains silent.
