For the second time in its history, Israel was returning El Arish to Egypt. The previous occasion was in early 1957 as part of the arrangements following the Sinai War. This time, the capital of northern Sinai was being returned in the context of a peace treaty with Egypt. On this occasion, Major General Dan Shomron, G.O.C. Southern Command of the I.D.F. issued the following Order of the Day.
Soldiers and Officers of the Southern Command:
Today we hand over the city of El-Arish to the Egyptian authorities, and this time as part of a peace treaty between us.
During a generation of bitter war for survival, the State of Israel did not cease to search for any possible way of arriving at a dialogue and of finding solutions which would lead to peace with all our neighbours.
We did not occupy this region out of a desire for expansion, but out of necessity arising in a war which threatened our very existence. The handing over of El-Arish today, and of the whole of the Sinai region soon, is the clearest and most sincere expression of our desire for peace and of our hope that, together with the Egyptian nation, we shall succeed in realizing true neighbourly relations in the sense envisaged by the peace treaty.
Major General Dan Shomron,
G.O.C. Southern Command.