Today is a day of celebration for the State of Israel, but few of its citizens know that. It’s a holiday hidden from the eye.

Today is the 36th anniversary of the Camp David Accords, which led to the peace treaty with Egypt. Peace with Egypt? One needs to have been for at least 50 years to understand the meaning of this peace.

How many people remember that Egypt led nearly every diplomatic and military move against Israel until 36 years ago? That the rusty, out-of-date and good-for-nothing Egyptian army managed to surprise the great and fearful IDF and deal it a serious blow?

Since its establishment, the State of Israel had been preoccupied with the Egyptian threat. Every move, every decision, every act and failure were determined according to decisions made in Cairo.

For generations, our practical life depended on the Egyptian presidential palace, on Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat and others. We beat them. We crushed their army and their economy. We haunted them – and the Egyptians always managed to shake off the dust and failure and recover.

For 36 years, there have been no wars between us. For 36 years, the State of Israel has been able to allot its resources to economy, education and health rather than to the establishment of additional armored divisions, thousands of soldiers and thousands of reserve duty call ups to guard the Israel-Egypt border.

Read the article in full at Ynet.