Jehan Sadat's plea for peace in the Middle East is certainly welcome ("The Lessons of Camp David," op-ed, March 26). But her misrepresentation of history could well lead to further conflict in the region, rather than the peace for which she speaks so eloquently.

Egypt did not achieve "victory in the October War of 1973," as she puts it. When Israel -- victim of a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar -- finally agreed to the ceasefire urged by Egypt's Soviet patrons (and by the American secretary of state), armored units of the Israeli army were well inside the west bank of the Suez Canal, just south of Ismailia, and had cut the Suez-Cairo road while striking towards the town of Suez. The Egyptian Third Army was stranded on the east bank of the Canal, with its forward movement stalled and no place to retreat, since Israeli forces now occupied the west bank of the Canal.

In fact, then, it was not "Egypt's victory in the October War" which impelled Ms. Sadat's husband to move toward peace. It was his sober recognition that for the fourth time in 25 years, Egyptian military might had been unable to destroy Israel and, for the third time since the 1956 Suez campaign, the heart of Egypt had been mortally threatened by Israel's response to these Egyptian campaigns of destruction.

The "lesson" that Anwar Sadat had the courage to acknowledge was that Israel's military determination meant that only peace was a realistic option for his country's security. That is the same lesson that Jordan acknowledged when it made peace with Israel some 15 years later.

Sadly, neither Syria nor the Palestinian community has been willing to accept that lesson, as recent events in Lebanon and Gaza have demonstrated. While that in itself is tragic, it would be truly dismaying if Ms. Sadat's rewriting of history were to encourage them to continue in their Pyrrhic quest for "victory" over Israel.

Barry Augenbraun

St. Petersburg, Fla.

Peace cannot happen until the Palestinians produce their own version of a visionary such as Anwar Sadat. On the day that Anwar Sadat is reborn in Palestine, both sides will rejoice along with Ms. Sadat and the rest of us.

Neal Greenberg

Fremont, Calif.

What message is embedded in Ms. Sadat's op-ed when she "hopes" that Benjamin Netanyahu will follow Menachem Begin's example but fails to ask Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hamas, Hezbollah, or Bashar Assad to follow Anwar Sadat's example? Is the message that Israel is the obstacle to peace? Iran and Syria support Hamas and Hezbollah who both believe that Israel should not exist.

Her husband's assassination was engineered by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, because Egypt dared break with the Arab world and make peace with Israel. Now Israel is surrounded by radical Muslim groups who have no interest in following Sadat's example, nor in a two-state solution. They want Israel "wiped off the map." It is unfortunate that Ms. Sadat has failed to learn the lesson of her husband's death. The impediment to peace is not Israel, but radical Islam and the failure of the so-called moderate Muslims to confront radical Islam.

Marc Weiss

New York

All I can say is bravo, Ms. Sadat! And "Three Cups of Tea" ta ya.

Paul Kelly

Juno Beach, Fla.

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