While the 1979 Camp David Accords, concluded by Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, have proved to be one of the Jewish state’s greatest diplomatic triumphs, Egyptian-Israeli relations rarely go beyond high-level security cooperation. Hillel Frisch believes that the time might be ripe for a warming of this “cold peace.”
Annex Three [of the 1979 treaty] includes articles that ensure complete freedom of movement for citizens of both states. This article has been flouted by the Egyptian state, which has harassed and even imprisoned Egyptians who dared to come to Israel. The intent to allow free economic interchange and cultural exchanges has been consistently thwarted if not suppressed.
Egypt has prevented university exchanges and cultural venues from taking place, and no Egyptian soccer team has ever played in an Israeli stadium, let alone the other way round.
The Abraham Accords could make a dent in the cold peace. An encouraging sign is the official Egyptian welcome given to the normalization process between Israel and Sudan. . . . The prospect of an Israeli political presence in Sudan, which Egypt regards as its geostrategic backyard, has always alarmed Cairo. That President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi overcame, at least for the moment, inhibitions to welcome normalization of Israeli-Sudanese relations could be a harbinger of the much-sought-for normalization of relations between the two veteran peacemakers in the area.
Read more on BESA Center: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/israel-egypt-normalization/