heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union (allied with Israel and with the Arab states, respectively) and a second ceasefire was imposed cooperatively on October 25, 1973, to officially end the war. The Yom Kippur War had far-reaching implications; the Arab world had experienced humiliation in the lopsided rout of the Egyptian–Syrian–Jordanian alliance in 1967, but felt psychologically vindicated by early successes in the 1973 conflict. The Israelis recognized that, despite impressive operational and tactical achievements on the battlefield, there was no guarantee that they would always dominate the Arab states militarily, as they had done consistently throughout the First, Second and Third Arab–Israeli Wars; these changes paved the way for the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The 1978 Camp David Accords that followed the war saw Israel return the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and the subsequent 1979 Egyptian–Israeli peace treaty, which marked the first instance of an Arab country recognizing Israel as a legitimate state. Following the achievement of peace with Israel, Egypt continued its drift away from the Soviet Union and eventually left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely. Background The war was part of the Arab–Israeli conflict, an ongoing dispute that has included many battles and wars since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. During the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel had captured Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, roughly half of Syria's Golan Heights, and the territories of the West Bank which had been held by Jordan since 1948. On June 19, 1967, shortly after the Six-Day War, the Israeli government voted to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for a permanent peace settlement and a demilitarization of the returned territories. This decision was not made public at the time, nor was it conveyed to any Arab state. Notwithstanding the insistence of Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban that this was indeed the case, there seems to be no solid evidence to corroborate his claim. No formal peace proposal was made either directly or indirectly by Israel. The Americans, who were briefed of the Cabinet's decision by Eban, were not asked to convey it to Cairo and Damascus as official peace proposals, nor were they given indications that Israel expected a reply. Eban also the prospect of a mediated peace, insisting of the need for direct negotiations with the Arab governments. The Arab position, as it emerged in