one of Former President Jimmy Carter’s defining moment was being the president who successfully brokered the first peace agreement in the Middle East and ushered in peace between Israel and Egypt after 30 years of war.
The 1978 Camp David Accords allowed Carter to stand out from his predecessors by succeeding in areas where they had failed.
This feat was particularly noteworthy in a presidency known for a variety of economic and foreign affairs issues.
“Arab-Israeli peace has always been something of a holy grail for American diplomacy,” said Martin Indyk, Lowy Distinguished Fellow in U.S.-Middle East diplomacy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Egyptian President Anwar Sadat shakes hands with former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin as U.S. President Jimmy Carter looks on at Camp David on September 6, 1978. (Photo credit: -/CONSOLIDATED NEWS/AFP via Getty Images)
“There were other agreements, but none was as important as the peace treaty that Jimmy Carter brokered between Israel and Egypt. This was the first and the most important,” said former Israeli special envoy. Indyk said. Palestine negotiations continued under former President Obama.
The Camp David Accords were signed in September 1978 by then-President Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, marking peace between the two countries. Egypt was considered the largest and most powerful Arab state at the time.
Negotiations began years ago in 1973 and were led by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The debate was sparked by the Yom Kippur War, a costly conflict for both Israel and Egypt, as well as their Arab allies.
Kissinger successfully negotiated a ceasefire and disarmament agreement, and Israel withdrew a third of its troops from the Sinai Peninsula.
President Carter first tried to finalize an agreement in November 1977, when President Sadat made a historic visit to Jerusalem and spoke of his desire for peace between the two countries.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meet on the balcony of Aspen Lodge at Camp David on September 6, 1978. ((Photo: Archive Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images))
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Indyk noted that these initial negotiations were extremely difficult and ultimately failed.
“So there was a moment of great hope, created by President Sadat’s initiative, to go into Jerusalem, the den of the enemy, so to speak, and talk about peace. But it was very difficult to reach an agreement. It turned out to be,” he said. “And that’s when President Carter made the risky decision to bring both leaders to Camp David and try to broker a peace agreement between them.”
The high-stakes meeting between the two leaders at Camp David was classified and lasted 12 days.
“They had no confidence that they could bridge the gap,” Indyk said of the sensitive nature of the talks.
During the meeting, Carter faced an important question about what would happen to the Palestinian people.
“The Palestinian cause is a national cause for the Arabs, and as such President Sadat felt he could not simply abandon them. He had some understanding of what would happen to the Palestinians after making peace with Israel. There was a need,” Indyk explained.
Mr. Indyk attributed Mr. Carter’s decision to focus solely on Israel and Egypt to the former president’s “genius.”
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin join forces after the Camp David Accords in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., September 18, 1978. ((Photo by David Hume Kennerley/Getty Images))
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“They had kind of a loose framework for what would happen on the Palestinian front, but essentially the deal that he made, that he convinced Egyptian President Sadat to do, is that the Israeli-Egyptian “That’s what he was successful in negotiating with Camp David,” he said.
But Indyk said this result was against the advice of Carter and Sadat’s aides.
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“This was Mr. Carter’s decision. Against the advice of his advisers and against the advice of Mr. Sadat’s advisers, it was Mr. Carter’s decision to pursue a separate peace between Israel and Egypt.”
The agreement with Sadat went on to become a hallmark of President Carter’s foreign policy and earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
“He was a president with challenges,” Indyk said. “Nothing else worked for him. There were other things he accomplished, but this was the most important.”
Julia Johnson is a political writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, where she leads coverage of the U.S. Senate. She previously served as a political reporter for the Washington Examiner.
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