Jimmy Carter’s historic peace deal between Israel and Egypt deserves more attention

The funeral Thursday of former President Jimmy Carter brings back powerful memories of what I believe was his greatest achievement: the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1978.

I was based in Jerusalem at the time as a Middle East correspondent covering Israel and the Arab world. From the Israeli capital and Cairo, I watched the run-up and aftermath of Carter’s Herculean achievement. As the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab nation, Israel’s accord with Egypt — its most powerful military opponent of that era — truly changed the face of the Middle East.

Yet, in the many remembrances of Carter I’ve read since his death, far too little attention has been paid to this historic deal and the strength of character it took to pull off a near miracle — or the lessons it offers for today.

On Nov. 19, 1977, I was standing on risers at Tel Aviv’s airport, several rows above the Israeli cabinet, watching an Egyptian plane circle overhead. Staff from the Israeli foreign ministry standing nearby were only half joking when they debated whether the plane might be primed to explode on landing and kill the entire Israeli government.

Instead, only days after stunning the world with news of his pending journey, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat stepped out of the plane on his self-declared peace mission, ignoring opposition from most other Arab leaders. I will never forget seeing him stride up to the Israeli cabinet members and wrap his arms around former Prime Minister Golda Meir’s ample backside in a hug. Members of the foreign ministry staff near me began to sob.

Sadat’s brief visit transfixed most of Israel: I watched huge crowds waving Egyptian and Israeli flags lining the streets in Jerusalem as he passed, while cars and walls and light posts were plastered with peace posters. But Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin was adamantly opposed to stopping Jewish settlement building in the West Bank or the Sinai Peninsula, and to granting any substantial political rights to or starting negotiations with Palestinians, as Sadat requested.

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Meantime, the Palestine Liberation Organization was trying to collapse the negotiations. Almost four months after Sadat’s visit, Palestinian terrorists landed by boat to carry out a bloody assault on Israel’s main coastal highway. One of the first killed was a nature photojournalist named Gail Rubin, who was taking pictures of shore birds. For hours, I was getting calls and messages from friends and relatives in the U.S. trying to check whether the victim named Rubin was actually me.

Carter, a devout Christian who believed deeply in Israel’s right to exist, could not accept the collapse of this unique prospect for peace. Defying the advice of all his advisers and outside experts who insisted the Mideast conflict was insoluble, he convened a three-way conclave of Begin, Sadat, and himself at Camp David in Maryland.

After 13 exhausting days, with Begin and Sadat ensconced in separate suites, a relentless Carter pulled together two documents, one that became momentously successful, the other not.

The first established full peace between Israel and Egypt in return for a full Israeli pullout from Sinai, including Jewish settlements. With the most powerful Arab army withdrawn from the Arab fight, no other Arab army, including Syria’s, was in a military position to invade Israel. Egypt’s move opened the door to an Israel-Jordan peace treaty in 1994 and paved the way to the far less critical peace treaties with two small Gulf emirates that were signed during Donald Trump’s first term.

All because President Carter personally risked everything on a deal he believed in, but no one thought he could achieve.

The saddest aspect of the Camp David deal was what might have been if Begin hadn’t double-crossed Carter at the last minute. The second document, titled “Framework for Peace in the Middle East,” aimed at resolving the Palestinian future. It called for an elected self-governing authority and full autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza for five years. Subsequently, Palestinian-Israeli negotiations would resolve the final status of those territories.

A key point was that Israel would freeze Jewish settlement building on occupied lands until the end of negotiations with the Palestinians. But Begin removed a side letter with that provision at the last minute, when it was too late to renegotiate with Sadat. (For a day-by-day breakdown of those Thirteen Days in September, I highly recommend the book by that name by Lawrence Wright.)

Some West Bank leaders and intellectuals who had read details of the “Framework for Peace” told me they believed West Bankers and Gazans should back the deal, even though Yasser Arafat and the PLO opposed it. They thought an elected Palestinian leadership from the occupied territories could raise the Palestinian profile internationally, and advance the cause of two states living peacefully, side by side.

However, Begin’s double-cross on Jewish settlements killed that prospect, as building continued dissecting the West Bank into separate cantons. It would have been far more possible in 1978 to negotiate with West Bank and Gazan leaders (before Hamas) who knew Israel well and were frustrated with the PLO. Sadly, that chance was lost.

The massive increase in Israeli settlement building today, along with the violent settlers and government ministers who seek to annex the West Bank and Gaza, makes it hard to see when a chance will come again. Indeed, if Israel tries to push all Gazans into Egypt now, as some key ministers have proposed, that precious peace treaty could finally unravel.

Moreover, as the saying goes, good deeds often go unrewarded.

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I still recall Oct. 6, 1981, when I happened to be at the Israeli government press office and the news of Sadat’s assassination by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad drifted through the building, shocking officials and journalists alike. As for Carter’s presidency, it was largely adjudged a failure due to rampant inflation and the Iran hostage crisis.

Yet, I believe Carter’s success in negotiating the foundation of Mideast peace still remains relevant today.

First, it reminds us of a time when principles and the people who held them mattered — especially when they were willing to take huge personal risks to uphold those principles. That is important to recall when Carter’s funeral is being held the same week as the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Carter’s campaign pledge, which he hewed to despite the mockery of many, was to “never tell a lie.” Meanwhile, President-elect Trump continues to lie about Jan. 6 and almost everything else.

More to the point, Carter’s determination to negotiate Middle East peace was pursued without any prospect of personal gain. He had studied the Mideast and absorbed intelligence briefings on Sadat and Begin. He held no illusions he could produce a peace in 24 hours based on his personality (as Trump has boasted regarding Ukraine). And such a possible peace held out no prospect of business deals for himself or his family with billionaire sheikhs.

When he finally received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, 24 years after the Israel-Egypt deal, it was for decades of peace and human rights work after he left the White House.

When Carter is eulogized at Thursday’s ceremonies at the National Cathedral, I hope due attention is paid to his triumph at Camp David. That’s what I’ll be thinking of as I watch.