“Fifty Years of the October War: A Forward-looking Vision” Seminar at the BA
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The Bibliotheca Alexandrina organized a seminar titled “Fifty Years of the October War: A Forward-looking Vision” on Thursday, 12 October 2023, at Sinnari House in Cairo. It was moderated by Dr. Ahmed Zayed, Director of the BA, with the participation of Major General Dr. Mohamed Kashkoush, Advisor at Nasser Military Academy; Major General Samir Aziz Mikhail, former Assistant Chief of Staff of the Air Force; and Dr. Ahmed El-Sherbiny, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University. The event was also attended by a group of intellectuals, researchers and media professionals.
Dr. Ahmed Zayed explained that the BA is focusing this year on celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the glorious October War of 1973, by organizing a number of events, issuing a book on the war and a special issue of the Memory of Egypt magazine as well as holding a photo exhibition.
Major General Dr. Mohamed Kashkoush said that the October War was an inevitable fight for Egypt to go through after it exhausted all means to resolve the crisis peacefully, and stressed that the military victory is what paved the way for the political victory that was followed by the legal victory of reclaiming Taba by international arbitration.
Major General Samir Aziz Mikhail stated that he participated in the Yemen War, the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the War of Attrition and the October War, and pointed out that Egypt began the War of Attrition a few days after the setback of 1967, specifically on 14 July 1967, explaining that he succeeded in shooting down 3 planes.
For his part, Dr. Ahmed El-Sherbiny said that the Egyptian youth do not know much about this war, therefore a great effort needs to be made in order to introduce it to them, stressing that the availability of documents related to the war, particularly academic studies, will open the door for researchers to reveal the societal epic that coincided with it.