On Wednesday morning, 28/10/2020, at the Department of History, College of Arts, University of Basra, an M.A. thesis entitled The Egyptian-Omani Relationships 1970-1981, was discussed.

The thesis, which is submitted by researcher Murtadha Ibrahim Mahmoud, includes three chapters. The first chapter discusses the Egyptian-Omani political relationships. The second chapter is devoted to explain the Omani position on the Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement “1970-1977” “1977-1979” and its effect of the relationship between the two countries. The third chapter explains the development of the Egyptian-Omani relationships between 1979-1981.

The thesis aims to shed light on the Egyptian-Omani relationships between 1970-1981, analyzing the international and regional events and developments that affected that relationships.

By analyzing the political relations between the two countries, especially after  Death of President Jamal Abdulnasser and Mohammed Anwar Al-Sadat’s presidency, the thesis concludes that the Egyptian reorientation towards Oman is to strengthen the relationships with Oman. In addition, despite Sultanate of Oman support to the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and establish a dependent state over their territory, the Omani position on President Sadat initiative and his visit to “Israel” in 1977 leading to sign Camp David agreement (the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty) between 1978 and 1979 was different from the majority of Arab countries’ positions. In fact, Oman supported Egypt in taking these steps, believing that peace should be achieved. Also, they believe that every Arab country has the right to do what is deemed appropriate and their right to state their opinions in complete freedom. Additionally, the events happened in the middle east at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s contributed in strengthening the Egyptian-Omani political relations, adopting many common positions towards these events. Furthermore, Sultanate of Oman condemned the assassination of President Sadat for different reasons, the most important of which are the peaceful approach which is adopted by Muscat government, their refuse of the motives which led to the assassination, i.e. signing Camp David agreement and peace treaty with Israel.