The Camp David Accords were historic agreements for peace in the
Middle East that were developed with the help of U.S. president Jimmy
Carter (1924–; served 1977–81). At his Maryland presidential retreat,
Carter met with Menachem Begin (1913–1992), prime minister of
Israel, and Anwar El-Sadat (1918–1981), president of the Arab Republic
of Egypt, over a twelve-day period in 1978. The announcement of the
Camp David Accords marked a major breakthrough in bringing peace to
the troubled region.
An issue of land
For hundreds of years, the Middle East (regions in Southwest Asia and
parts of North Africa) has been the site of conflict that is at once political, cultural, and religious in nature. The battles have been numerous
and bloody. In particular, the conflict over a region called Palestine
emerged as the most serious issue for the area in the twentieth century.
Palestine is made up of parts of modern-day Israel, territories of the Gaza
Strip (along the Mediterranean Sea), and the West Bank (area west of the
Jordan River).
In 1947, the United Nations voted to partition (divide) Palestine.
There was to be a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an independent
Jerusalem state. The Arabs did not approve of this plan. When the Jews
claimed Israel as an independent state, the Arabs refused to recognize it
because 75 percent of former Palestine was within its borders. The Arabs
also refused to create their own separate state. War broke out with Egypt,
Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Transjordan (now known as Jordan) leading
the attack on Israel. By the end of the war, two-thirds of the Arab population in Palestine had lost their homes and were expected to assimilate
(adapt and blend) into surrounding cultures. The Arab-Israeli conflict
had begun.
Diplomacy at work
When Jimmy Carter took office in 1977, one of his goals was to resolve
the conflict in the Middle East. He met with Begin and Sadat September 5–17, 1978, at Camp David. Carter’s determination not to leave until
some sort of peace had been reached fueled the negotiations and kept the
warring countries’ leaders from leaving the talks when the situation got
tense.
The first accord is called “A Framework for Peace in the Middle
East.” The second is titled “A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace
Treaty Between Egypt and Israel,” and it led to the formal Egypt-Israeli
Peace Treaty signed in March 1979. The agreements outlined how relations between the two countries would proceed in terms of political independence. They also call for billions of dollars of assistance given
annually from the United States to both Israel and Egypt. This subsidy
is still being provided in the twenty-first century.
The Camp David Accords did not solve all the problems of the
Middle East. As a direct result of his willingness to negotiate, Sadat was
assassinated in 1981 by a radical group of Arabs. But while many
Egyptians were unhappy with the accords, they could not deny the many
economic and political advantages the agreements provided. The world’s
perception of Egypt changed markedly as a result of the Camp David
Accords.