Camp David Accords
In September 1978, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin agreed to two framework documents at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, after nearly two weeks of intense negotiation led by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. The agreements paved the way for the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, the first between Israel and an Arab state. They reshaped the diplomacy of the Middle East and removed the largest Arab military power from the confrontation with Israel.
The background lay in decades of war. Egypt and Israel had fought in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, along with the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The 1973 war, in which Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, ended in a military stalemate but gave Sadat a measure of political confidence. U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger then brokered limited disengagement agreements, but a comprehensive settlement remained elusive. In November 1977, Sadat made a startling visit to Jerusalem and addressed the Knesset, breaking a long taboo against direct contact. Talks that followed stalled, which prompted Carter to invite both leaders to Camp David.
The summit ran roughly from 5 to 17 September. Carter shuttled between the delegations, since Sadat and Begin found direct meetings difficult and tense. Two documents resulted. The first, "A Framework for Peace in the Middle East," outlined a process for Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza, though its terms were vague and later interpreted differently by the parties. The second, "A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel," set out terms for Israeli withdrawal from Sinai and normal relations. The formal treaty was signed in Washington in March 1979.
The consequences were profound but contested. Israel withdrew from Sinai in stages, completing the process in 1982, and Egypt became a major recipient of U.S. aid. Sadat and Begin shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. Yet the Palestinian provisions were never realized as envisioned, and the Palestine Liberation Organization and most Arab governments rejected the agreements. Egypt was suspended from the Arab League, which moved its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis for a period. Sadat was assassinated in October 1981 by Islamist militants, partly in reaction to his peace policy.
The Egypt-Israel peace has endured for more than four decades despite periods of cold relations between their publics. Camp David also set a precedent for American mediation and for the principle of exchanging land for peace, which influenced later efforts such as the Oslo Accords and the 1994 Israel-Jordan treaty.