Despite prevalent misconceptions of Israel as a land besieged with terror and rampant violence, dedicated efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region are almost as ancient as the conflict itself. The peace process was notably born with late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Jerusalem, culminating in the Camp David Accords and Israel's return of the Sinai Peninsula, captured in the 1967 Six Day War, to Egyptian sovereignty. Camp David paved the way for the Madrid and Oslo Accords, addressing wider issues of comprehensive peace in the Middle East and, in particular, peace with the Palestinians.

The quest for peace has often been painful, and while it has cost the lives of innocent people on both sides, victims to opponents of co-existence, the pursuit of peace continues. Israel's late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, ironically assasinated by a fellow-Israeli, was one such victim. Egypt's Anwar Sadat was similarly assasinated, by Islamic fundamentalists opposed to his efforts at reconciliation with Israel.

The long road to peace has indeed been a bitter one at times, but undoubtedly its rewards far outweigh the heavy price of war and terrorism.

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