The Camp David Accords - 1977–1979
When Jimmy Carter became United States President on January 20, 1977, he sought to rejuvenate the Middle East
peace process. Carter wanted to change the approach for peace talks. Former United States Secretary Henry Kissinger
relied heavily on bilateral talks with other countries. He would meet individually with a leader from one Middle Eastern
country and then meet with another and another to try to reach agreements among them. This was shuttle diplomacy.
Carter wanted a new multilateral approach to peace talks. He wanted to reconvene the 1973 Geneva Conference with
the entire Palestinian delegation at the same meeting. Carter worked hard to reach a peace settlement among Israel,
the Palestinians, and the neighboring Arab countries.
Carter began to meet with heads of Middle Eastern governments. These countries had allied with the Egyptians and
Syrians during the wars with Israel in 1967 and 1973. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance aided Carter in his pursuit of peace
in the region. Preliminary reports called for Israel to withdraw from all fronts and possibly return Arab territory seized in
the wars, including the WestBank. However, public opinion in Israel changed in May 1977 with the election of
Menachem Begin and the Likud political party. The new Israeli government leaders took a more hard-line approach to
the Palestinians and Israel’s Arab neighbors than the Alignment Party, which previously held power. Still, Begin accepted
the heavy Palestinian population in Israel and its support among the Arab nations surrounding Israel. He wanted to start
preliminary peace talks with the Palestinians and theirallies.
Begin said he would return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. However, he was hesitant to state his views on giving up
the West Bank. At the same time, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat thought the United States’ negotiations to restart
the Geneva Conference were not progressing quickly enough. He did not think Carter was putting enough pressure on
Israel for peace talks. In November 1977, Sadat visited Israel, making him the first Arab leader to do so. By visiting Israel,
Sadat demonstrated that he recognized the independent country of Israel. While in Israel, Sadat gave a speech at the
Israeli Knesset. He discussed his views on peace and the status of Israel’s occupied territories. This was contrary to what
the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to do during the restarted Geneva Conference.
After discovering that Egypt recognized and might sign an agreement with Israel, Hungarian leader Janos Kader said he
would go to war with Egypt if this happened. Countries such as Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, Yugoslavia, and East
Germany also agreed. This was a threatening sign.
These eastern European countries were allies of the Soviet Union. The Soviets had worked to bring Egypt under their
influence during the 1950s and 1960s with military and economic aid to the Egyptians and President Abdel Nasser. The
new president, Anwar El Sadat, was moving toward more friendly relations with Israel and the United States, which
displeased the Soviet Union, a Cold Waropponent of the United States. Egypt wanted economic aid from the United
States. Egypt also thought an agreement with Israel would lead other Arab countries to make agreements with Israel. He
also thought this would help the Palestinian problem in the area. Many Palestinians, dissatisfied with Israeli rule, had
immigrated to Egypt, which added to Egypt’s economic problems and provided a volatile and critical group of people to
the political scene. Sadat saw these factors as reasons to support better relations with Israel. All these developments
would weaken Soviet influence in the Middle East to the advantage of the United States and its strongest Middle East
ally, Israel.
If the Soviets threatened Egypt, however, they ran the risk of direct American involvement. During the Cold War, both
America and Russia carefully avoided situations that risked direct militaryconflict. Both knew that such incidents could
escalate into nuclear war between the superpowers. In the Mideast and other Cold War situations, the Soviets used lesspowerful, non-nuclear allies to deliver military pressure on the United States. This made the process of reaching a peace
agreement in the Middle East more difficult.
Prime Minister Begin agreed to listen to Sadat’s idea for bilateral talks. He stated it would be better to negotiate with
Egypt than the entire Arab nation. Israel also thought Egypt could offer protection from other Arab countries, as well as
the eastern European communists. Sadat’s historic visit included the preliminary discussion for the Cairo Conference in
1977, as well as the Camp David Accords.
On September 5–17, 1978, Begin, Sadat, and Carter negotiated at Camp David in Maryland. Carter refused to leave
before Israel and Egypt reached an agreement. There were many times when Sadat and Begin wanted to abandon the
talks, but Carter pushed them to work for a resolution. Begin and Sadat seldom had direct contact with one another. On
the tenth day of negotiations, the two leaders could not agree on an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula and the
status of the West Bank. Carter pushed ahead. He wanted negotiations to continue for the next three days.
Eventually, two frameworks of agreement were decided. There were The Framework for Peace in the Middle East and
The Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel (the latter led to the Israel-Egypt
Peace Treaty in March 1979). Side letters also came with the two agreements. These detailed the United States’
relationship with the two countries. The agreement established an autonomous, self-governing Palestinian authority in
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also led to Egyptian and Israeli reforms, in addition to agreements for relations
between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
The second agreement provided the basis of a peace treaty to be implemented six months later. It would help decide
the future of the Sinai Peninsula, which Israel had seized in the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel agreed to remove its troops
and civilians from the area and restore control to Egypt. There also would be free passage through the Suez Canal and
other waterways closed to the region. Israel would limit its military forces and allow free passage between Egypt and
Jordan. However, Israel lost the lucrative Abu-Rudeis oil fields in western Sinai. The United States agreed to give annual
subsidies to Egypt and Israel. This money would help the governments of both countries.
The Camp David Accords were a milestone in the quest for a peaceful solution to Israel’s conflictwith its Palestinian
citizens and Arab neighbors. The progress came at a price. More militant, anti-Israeli Muslims in Egypt disapproved
of President Sadat’s seeking better relations with Israel. In 1982 dissident members of the Egyptian army assassinated
Sadat and thirty other people at a military parade. Sadat’s successors have taken a more cautious position toward Israel
since then.
After completing the Guided Reading, answer the following questions. Be sure to include textual evidence to support your responses.
1. How did Israeli public opinion in Israel change after Israel’s national election in May 1977?
2. Why was Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat’s 1977 trip to Israel historic?
3. Why was the Soviet Union upset about President Carter's efforts for peace between Egypt and Israel?
4. What was President Jimmy Carter’s intention during the thirteen-day Camp David Accords?
5. What policies were enforced in The Framework for Peace in the Middle East?