Camp David Accords 1978: Sadat, Begin and Carter Make Peace

The Camp David Accords were two agreements reached by Egypt and Israel at the US presidential retreat in Maryland after 13 days of talks from 5 to 17 September 1978. Brokered by President Jimmy Carter, they led to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, the first between Israel and an Arab state. The accords transformed the politics of the Middle East and remain one of the most durable achievements of US diplomacy.

Background: from war to Jerusalem

Egypt and Israel had fought four wars since 1948. In the Six-Day War of 1967 Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and in the Yom Kippur War of 1973 Egypt’s early success restored national pride without recovering the territory. US-brokered disengagement agreements in 1974 and 1975 separated the armies but did not end the state of war.

Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat wanted to regain Sinai, reduce military spending and move his country closer to the United States. Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin, elected in 1977 as leader of the right-wing Likud, was willing to trade Sinai for peace but firmly opposed giving up the West Bank.

On 9 November 1977 Sadat told Egypt’s parliament he would go to Jerusalem itself to seek peace. Ten days later, on 19 November, he landed in Israel, and on 20 November he addressed the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. No Arab head of state had visited Israel before. The gesture electrified the world, but follow-up talks soon stalled.

The summit at Camp David

Carter decided to bring both leaders to Camp David, the president’s secluded retreat in the Catoctin Mountains. Sadat and Begin arrived on 5 September 1978 with their delegations, including Israel’s Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defence Minister Ezer Weizman and US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.

The two leaders quickly found that face-to-face meetings made matters worse, and after the first few days they hardly met directly. Instead the Americans used a single negotiating text, carrying draft after draft between the cabins. Around 23 drafts were produced over the 13 days.

The hardest issues were the Israeli settlements and airfields in Sinai, the future of the West Bank and Gaza, and Jerusalem. Twice the talks nearly collapsed. Sadat at one point prepared to leave, and Begin too threatened to go home before Carter persuaded both to stay.

The breakthrough came when Begin agreed to let the Knesset decide on removing the Sinai settlements, and the sides set aside Jerusalem by exchanging letters stating their positions. The accords were signed at the White House on the evening of 17 September 1978.

What the accords said

The first document, “A Framework for Peace in the Middle East”, proposed a five-year transitional period of self-government for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, with Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Palestinian representatives negotiating the final status. It referred to UN Security Council Resolution 242 as the basis for peace.

The second, “A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel”, called for a treaty within three months. Israel would withdraw from all of Sinai, Egypt would restore full sovereignty there with limits on its forces, and the two countries would establish normal diplomatic and economic relations. Israeli ships would gain free passage through the Suez Canal.

Key people

Anwar Sadat had succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser as Egypt’s president in 1970. A bold and theatrical politician, he expelled Soviet military advisers in 1972, launched the 1973 war and then gambled his reputation on a direct approach to Israel.

Menachem Begin, a former leader of the Irgun underground in British Mandate Palestine, had spent nearly three decades in opposition before winning power in 1977. A stubborn and legalistic negotiator, he regarded the West Bank as part of the historic Land of Israel but was prepared to give up Sinai.

Jimmy Carter invested an unusual amount of personal time in the summit, spending almost two weeks away from Washington. He drafted texts himself, mediated between the two leaders and repeatedly persuaded them not to walk out. Aides such as Cyrus Vance and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Israel’s legal adviser Aharon Barak, also played important roles in finding workable wording.

From accords to treaty

The three-month deadline slipped as disputes resurfaced. In March 1979 Carter travelled to Cairo and Jerusalem himself to close the remaining gaps. The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty was signed on the White House lawn on 26 March 1979.

Israel withdrew from Sinai in stages. The last phase was completed on 25 April 1982, after the evacuation of settlements including the town of Yamit. A small dispute over Taba, on the Gulf of Aqaba, was settled by international arbitration in 1988, and Israel handed the area over in 1989. A Multinational Force and Observers, created in 1981, has monitored the Sinai arrangements since 1982.

Consequences

The accords brought Sadat and Begin the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. The United States began large, long-running aid programmes to both countries, which became the largest recipients of American assistance for decades.

Across the Arab world the reaction was hostile. Egypt was suspended from the Arab League in 1979, most Arab states broke diplomatic ties, and the PLO denounced the deal. Egypt’s own foreign minister, Muhammad Ibrahim Kamel, resigned during the summit in protest.

The Palestinian autonomy framework produced little. Talks on self-government made no real progress, and the meaning of a settlement freeze promised at Camp David was disputed from the start. Sadat faced mounting criticism at home and was assassinated in October 1981, but his successor Hosni Mubarak kept the treaty.

The peace has survived serious strains, including Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, two Palestinian uprisings and the upheavals in Egypt after 2011. Egypt was readmitted to the Arab League in 1989, and its role as a mediator between Israel and its neighbours grew in later decades. Security cooperation in Sinai, in particular, became an enduring shared interest of both governments.

Myths and facts

It is often said that Camp David created a warm friendship between Egypt and Israel. In reality it produced what Egyptians and Israelis themselves call a “cold peace”: embassies, security cooperation and trade, but limited contact between ordinary people for many years.

It is also sometimes claimed that Carter imposed the deal on two reluctant partners. Both leaders had their own strong reasons to reach agreement: Sadat wanted Sinai back and closer ties with Washington, while Begin wanted to remove Egypt, the strongest Arab army, from any future war.

Another misconception is that the accords dealt only with Egypt. The first framework was meant to be a wider settlement for Palestinians, and its failure became a lasting criticism of the agreement.

Timeline

• 1977, 19-21 November: Sadat visits Jerusalem and addresses the Knesset.
• 1978, 5 September: The Camp David summit opens.
• 1978, 17 September: Sadat and Begin sign the two frameworks at the White House.
• 1978, 10 December: The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo to Begin and to Sadat, who is represented by an envoy.
• 1979, 26 March: The Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty is signed in Washington.
• 1979, March: Egypt is suspended from the Arab League.
• 1981, 6 October: Sadat is assassinated in Cairo.
• 1982, 25 April: Israel completes its withdrawal from Sinai.

Why it matters

Camp David ended the state of war between Israel and the most populous Arab country and removed Egypt from the military balance against Israel. It showed that land-for-peace deals could work, setting a pattern later followed by the Oslo Accords and the 1994 Israel-Jordan treaty. Its unfulfilled promises for Palestinians, however, left the region’s central conflict unresolved.