The Camp David Accords: Peace in the Desert
In thirteen secret days at a Maryland retreat, an Egyptian, an Israeli, and an American president rewrote the politics of the Middle East.
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After three decades of conflict, U.S. President Jimmy Carter invited Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin to Camp David for intensive, isolated negotiations.
Thirteen days of wrangling produced two framework agreements covering peace between Egypt and Israel and a path for Palestinian autonomy.
The resulting 1979 peace treaty returned the Sinai to Egypt and broke the Arab consensus of hostility toward Israel.
"Two enemies who had fought four wars sat down for two weeks and emerged with a framework for peace. The map of the region changed."
The accords produced the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab state, ending decades of open war with Egypt. It realigned Middle Eastern alliances, isolated radical states, and set a template flawed but enduring for later peace efforts.
The Full Story
The Bold Invitation
Carter gambled his presidency on brokering a settlement, shuttling between cabins as the talks repeatedly neared collapse.
The Sinai Bargain
Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula in exchange for recognition and secure borders, a trade that has held for over four decades.
A Controversial Peace
Sadat was heroized in the West and condemned by much of the Arab world, and was later assassinated by extremists. The accords nonetheless reset regional strategy.