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In September 1978, President Jimmy Carter invited
Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to Camp David,
a presidential retreat in Maryland. They worked out two agreements:
a framework for peace between Egypt and Israel, and a general
framework for resolution of the Middle East crisis, i.e. the
Palestinian question.
The first agreement formed the basis of the Egyptian-Israeli
peace treaty signed in 1979. The second agreement proposed
to grant autonomy to the Palestinians in the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip, and to install a local administration for a
five-year interim period, after which the final status of the
territories would be negotiated.
Only the Egyptian-Israeli part of the Camp David
accords was implemented. The Palestinians and other Arab states
rejected the autonomy concept because it did not guarantee
full Israeli withdrawal from areas captured in 1967 or the
establishment of an independent Palestinian state. In any case,
Israel sabotaged negotiations by continuing to confiscate Palestinian
lands and build new settlements in violation of the commitments
Menachem Begin made to Jimmy Carter at Camp David. |
