Anwar al-Sadat (L) shakes hands with Menachem Begin in the presence of US President Jimmy Carter. AFP
Anwar al-Sadat (L) shakes hands with Menachem Begin in the presence of US President Jimmy Carter. AFP

1978 - The Camp David Accords: A flawed path to peace

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Updated 19 April 2025
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1978 - The Camp David Accords: A flawed path to peace

1978 - The Camp David Accords: A flawed path to peace
  • While the accords earned Sadat and Begin the Nobel Prize, they did little to secure lasting peace in the Middle East

CHICAGO: When Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem hoping to prevent future wars and resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict through negotiations, he did so believing a comprehensive peace would not only include Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, but most importantly an Israeli agreement to withdraw from the occupied territories and allow for a the establishment of a Palestinian state. 

During his lengthy speech to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, Sadat said: “I have not come here for a separate agreement between Egypt and Israel … Even if peace between all the confrontation states and Israel were achieved, in the absence of a just solution to the Palestinian problem, never will there be that durable and just peace upon which the entire world insists today.” 

Sadat did not live to see how right he was about how Israel’s refusal to withdraw from the occupied territories would fuel a surge in extremism, create more violence, disrupt his own nation and make regional peace impossible. 

Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s sole purpose was to remove the military threat posed by Egypt, divide the Arab “confrontation states” and block demands for Palestinian statehood.

Sadat was naive to trust Begin, one of the Middle East’s most vicious terrorists. Begin had orchestrated some of the most heinous civilian atrocities during the 1947-1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, including the massacre of nearly 100 civilians in the small Palestinian village of Deir Yassin.

How we wrote it




The front page of the newspaper reported the accords’ progress, noting the summit reached a “decisive stage.”

That massacre, including pregnant women butchered and their bodies thrown into the village water well, shocked the Arab population of Palestine, prompting a refugee flight of fear. Before his Knesset speech, Sadat visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial which, ironically, is built on the remains of Deir Yassin. 

He was wooed by Israel and the US, and treated like a distinguished head of state for making peace with Israel. He toured the US in 1978 and was feted at dinners in several major American cities, including Chicago, where I joined 500 other Arab Americans protesting against his “surrender.” 

The Camp David Accords earned Sadat and Begin the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize but scorn in the Arab world. The Arab League reacted by removing Egypt from its membership and moving the organization’s headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. 

Israel’s strategy was clear to everyone but Sadat. He signed the accords after 12 days of intense negotiations in 1978, between Sept. 5 and 17. But just weeks before this, Begin inaugurated the settlement of Ariel, on seized land in the West Bank more than 16 kilometers east of the Green Line, which became a symbol of Israel’s continuing war against Palestinian statehood and the center of Israeli settlement expansion.

Despite the disconcerting reality on the ground, Sadat went ahead and signed a formal peace treaty with Israel at the White House on March 26, 1979, officially ending the conflict between the two countries.

Key Dates

  • 1

    US President Jimmy Carter writes to Egyptian counterpart Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin expressing his commitment to finding “a lasting peace settlement in the Middle East.”

    Timeline Image Feb. 14, 1977

  • 2

    In a handwritten letter, Carter appeals to Sadat for help: “The time has now come to move forward, and your early public endorsement of our approach is extremely important — perhaps vital.”

  • 3

    After Sadat announces his intention to visit Israel, the country’s new prime minister, Menachem Begin, addresses the Egyptian people from Jerusalem pleading for “no more wars, no more bloodshed.”

    Timeline Image Nov. 11, 1977

  • 4

    Carter writes private letters to Sadat and Begin, proposing they meet.

  • 5

    Sadat and Begin arrive at Camp David for 10 days of talks.

  • 6

    At 9:37 p.m. Carter, Begin and Sadat board presidential helicopter Marine 1 and fly from Maryland to the White House. At 10:31p.m., Begin and Sadat sign a framework for peace.

    Timeline Image Sept. 17, 1978

  • 7

    Sadat and Begin jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Timeline Image Oct. 27, 1978

  • 8

    Sadat and Begin sign the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in Washington.

  • 9

    Sadat assassinated in Cairo by Islamic extremists opposed to the peace treaty.

    Timeline Image Oct. 6, 1981

When you look at the five fundamentals of the accord, only two were actually achieved. Egypt did get the Sinai Peninsula back, under demilitarized conditions, and the two countries ended their state of war and established diplomatic relations. 

But three conditions were never met: meetings to resolve the Palestine question, with the involvement of Jordan, stalled; the introduction of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza within five years failed; and an end to the Israeli settlements never even began. 

The accords were never allowed to stand in the way of plans to entrench Israel’s hold on the occupied territories. When US President Jimmy Carter lost his reelection bid on Nov. 4, 1980, and Sadat was assassinated while reviewing a military parade on Oct. 6, 1981, Begin was given the green light to close the door on Sadat’s “dream.” 

Despite political differences, US President Ronald Reagan attempted to follow up on Carter’s Middle East peace vision and in August 1982 proposed a “freeze” on settlements, urging Israel to grant Palestinians “autonomy” as a step toward statehood. 




Israeli Premier Menahem Begin (L) and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat converse and joke during a meeting in July 1979 in Alexandria. AFP

Begin’s reaction was swift. On Sept. 2, 1982, with Carter and Sadat out of the way, he led a Knesset move to consolidate Israel’s hold on the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights, increasing the Jewish settler population. Israel, the Cabinet declared, would “reserve the right to apply sovereignty over the territories at the end of the five-year transition period” toward Palestinian “autonomy” that was specifically envisioned in the Camp David Accords. 

In 1978, the settler population was only 75,000. By 1990, it had tripled to 228,000. Today, in excess of half a million Israeli settlers occupy at least 370 settlements, or “outposts,” in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 

This year, on Jan. 20, the first day of his second term in office, US President Donald Trump lifted the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration on far-right settler groups accused of violence against Palestinians. 

Ironically, while the Camp David accords were supposed to create an environment of hope and optimism, the failure to advance them beyond the return of the Sinai created a sense of fatalism that fueled extremism, evidenced most dramatically, and with such shocking consequences, by the fateful attacks by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Although the peace between Egypt and Israel remains, the failure to achieve peace with the Palestinians has ensured the accords remain little more than a formal version of an armistice agreement, and relations between the two countries are defined solely by military cooperation. 

  • Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter. He is a columnist for Arab News and hosts the Ray Hanania Radio Show. 


Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 3 dead and 1 missing

Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 3 dead and 1 missing
Updated 2 min 16 sec ago
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Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 3 dead and 1 missing

Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 3 dead and 1 missing
  • More than 500 people were rescued in the flooding emergency in New South Wales state north of Sydney
  • Some New South Wales areas forecast to receive as much as 30 centimeters of rain in the next 24 hours

MELBOURNE: Record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast left three people dead and one missing, officials said Thursday, as more heavy rain was forecast in the area.
More than 500 people were rescued in the flooding emergency in New South Wales state north of Sydney. The area has been hit with heavy rain since Tuesday. The flooding exceeds local records set in 1921 and 1929.
New South Wales Premier Christopher Minns said some areas were forecast to receive as much as 30 centimeters (1 foot) of rain in the next 24 hours. He said 50,000 people were warned to prepare to evacuate or be isolated by floodwaters, telling reporters: “We are bracing for more bad news.”
The body of a 63-year-old man was recovered from a flooded house in Moto in New South Wales on Wednesday afternoon, Fire and Rescue Commissioner Jeremy Fewtrell said. A coroner will determine whether a pre-existing medical condition played a part in his death, he added.
The body of a man, aged in his 30s, was recovered from floodwaters near Rosewood early Thursday, a police statement said. He had disappeared while attempting to drive through a flooded intersection on Wednesday night.
A 60-year-old woman was found dead on Thursday after her SUV became trapped in floodwaters near Brooklana on Wednesday night. The SUV was found earlier on Thursday, police said.
A 49-year-old man also failed to return home after walking near a flooded road at Nymboida on Wednesday night, police said.
Minns said more than 500 people had been rescued from floodwater in just over two days, many after trying to drive across flooded roads.
Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib said 330 flood rescues were conducted in the past 24 hours. Helicopters have been used to rescue people stranded by floodwaters from rooftops and verandahs.
“We’ve seen more rain and more flooding in the mid-to-north coast area than we’ve ever seen before,” Dib said.
The flooding has hit communities including Taree, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbor and Bellingen in New South Wales.
Taree received a month’s rain in 24 hours, an official said.
“Up around the Taree area, we’ve seen communities that have never flooded in recorded history now flooding,” Fewtrell said.
The region has opened 14 evacuation centers as of Thursday.
Government meteorologist Angus Hines said a low-pressure weather system had stalled over the flooded region since Monday, bringing 60 centimeters (2 feet) of rain to some parts.
“If it had only been one day and then it had gone, we would have seen some minor or moderate flooding but it wouldn’t have been too bad. But four days in a row of this amount of rainfall and we see this significant and extensive, widespread and major flood event happening in front of our eyes,” Hines said.
The rain was losing intensity on Thursday, Hines said.


Israel military intercepts missile fired from Yemen

Israel military intercepts missile fired from Yemen
Updated 6 min 33 sec ago
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Israel military intercepts missile fired from Yemen

Israel military intercepts missile fired from Yemen
  • Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said there were no casualties from either launch
  • The Iran-backed militia have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023

JERUSALEM: Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem, where AFP journalists reported loud booms overhead, as the Israeli military announced it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen Thursday for the second time in less than 12 hours.

“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the army said in a statement just before noon (0900 GMT).

Early Thursday morning, the military also said it had downed a missile fired from Yemen, whose Houthi rebels have launched repeated attacks they say are in response to Israel’s Gaza offensive.

Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said there were no casualties from either launch, though one man was hurt while seeking shelter from the first.

The Houthis claimed a missile attack targeting Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, though it was unclear to which launch they were referring.

They also said they had launched drones at targets in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

The Iran-backed militia have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war broke out in October 2023 following a Hamas attack on Israel.

The Houthis paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire that ended in March, but resumed them after Israel restarted its campaign in the besieged territory.

The rebels warned Monday they would impose a “naval blockade” on the Israeli port of Haifa after the country’s military intensified its offensive in Gaza.


French Open odds against tennis great Novak Djokovic as time running out for record 25th Slam

French Open odds against tennis great Novak Djokovic as time running out for record 25th Slam
Updated 34 min 27 sec ago
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French Open odds against tennis great Novak Djokovic as time running out for record 25th Slam

French Open odds against tennis great Novak Djokovic as time running out for record 25th Slam
  • The 38-year-old Serbian’s bid for a fourth French Open crown looks more unlikely than in many years
  • Djokovic struggling for form since his run to the Australian Open semifinals back in January before retiring injured

BERLIN: If there is one tennis player who knows how to beat the odds when they are stacked against him, it is 24-times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
The 38-year-old Serbian’s bid for a fourth French Open crown looks more unlikely than in many years, with Djokovic struggling for form since his run to the Australian Open semifinals back in January before retiring injured.
Since then Djokovic, who has 99 tour titles to his name and is in the twilight of a glorious career, has reached only one final and has not lifted a trophy this year.
After two early losses in Monte Carlo and Madrid, it was clear that Djokovic’s attempt to claim a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam could be his hardest yet.
“(It is) kind of a new reality for me, I have to say, trying to win a match or two, not really thinking about getting far in the tournament,” Djokovic said after his early Madrid exit.
He was expected to jumpstart his clay campaign in Rome before returning to Paris, where he won Olympic gold last year, but he skipped the Italian Open without giving a reason.
Instead he picked up a surprise wild card for the Geneva Open this week, in what looks like a last-ditch attempt to get some more matches on clay under his belt before Paris.
News of the wild card came as Djokovic split with his coach Andy Murray after only a few months working together.
Djokovic appointed fellow former world number one Murray ahead of this year’s Australian Open and the Serb said at the Qatar Open in February that he would continue working with the Scot for an indefinite period.
That time, however, ended abruptly last week with the Djokovic-Murray partnership yielding no titles and one losing final in Miami.
Their partnership is now officially over as Djokovic heads toward the French Open in a cloud of uncertainty over his form and future.
The world number six has struggled to assert his dominance after winning three out of the four Grand Slams in 2023.
There is even more uncertainty over his chances of reaching the last major goal in his illustrious career: adding that elusive 25th record Grand Slam to his collection to move past Margaret Court on the all-time winners’ list.


Pakistan conducts trainings for Hajj support staff to assist pilgrims at Mashair sites 

Pakistan conducts trainings for Hajj support staff to assist pilgrims at Mashair sites 
Updated 51 min 9 sec ago
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Pakistan conducts trainings for Hajj support staff to assist pilgrims at Mashair sites 

Pakistan conducts trainings for Hajj support staff to assist pilgrims at Mashair sites 
  • This year, Pakistan has employed 561 Hajj support staff known as Moavineen
  • Nearly 112,620 Pakistanis are set to perform the annual pilgrimage in June 2025

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hajj Mission (PHM) is conducting trainings for Hajj support staff from May 3-27 to orient them with knowledge of routes, accommodations and responsibilities related to assisting pilgrims as they visit sacred sites for the annual pilgrimage in Makkah, state news agency APP reported on Thursday.

This year, Pakistan has employed 561 Hajj support staff, known as Moavineen, to assist nearly 112,620 Pakistanis set to perform the annual pilgrimage, which will fall in the first week of June. 

“Over 430 Moavineen currently serving in the transport, accommodation and food departments have been oriented so far on how to assist Pakistani intending pilgrims in Mashair during the Hajj days,” APP reported, quoting Deputy Coordinator Operation Sadaqat Ali as saying.

Mashair refers to sacred sites in Makkah where pilgrims visit or perform Hajj rituals, including Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah. 

Pakistani pilgrims have been assigned 34 maktabs, numbered from 101 to 134, in Mina, while 17 maktabs are located on roads 56 and 62. The remaining are situated on road 511, the report said. The term maktab in the context of Hajj refers to an administrative office or center that provides pilgrims with essential services during their stay in Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah.

Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf has also recently reviewed the transport, accommodation, and catering arrangements for pilgrims, APP added.

For the first time, Pakistani Hajj pilgrims will have access to fully air-conditioned camps in Mina and will be accommodated in top-of-the-line hotels and buildings in the Azizia and Batha Quraish neighborhoods.

Over 35,000 pilgrims have reached Saudi Arabia so far to attend the pilgrimage, according to Pakistani state media.


ICC prosecutor says Netanyahu arrest warrant should remain as Israel jurisdiction challenge is heard

ICC prosecutor says Netanyahu arrest warrant should remain as Israel jurisdiction challenge is heard
Updated 41 min 38 sec ago
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ICC prosecutor says Netanyahu arrest warrant should remain as Israel jurisdiction challenge is heard

ICC prosecutor says Netanyahu arrest warrant should remain as Israel jurisdiction challenge is heard
  • Prosecutors argue there is ‘no basis to withdraw or vacate’ the pending warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant
  • Israel is not a member of the court and contends the ICC has no authority to prosecute Israeli nationals

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: International Criminal Court prosecutors have urged judges to reject a request by Israel to scrap arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister while the court reconsiders its jurisdiction over Gaza and the West Bank.
In a 10-page written submission posted on the ICC website late Wednesday, prosecutors argue there is “no basis to withdraw or vacate” the pending warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant.
The warrants were issued in November, when judges found there was “reason to believe” Netanyahu and Gallant used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Israeli officials strongly deny the accusations.
The prosecution document was signed on behalf of prosecutor Karim Khan, who temporarily stepped down on Friday pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
The filing argues it is important for the underlying investigation to continue in the “current situation where crimes are ongoing and escalating.”
Last month, appeals judges ordered a pretrial panel to reconsider an Israeli challenge to the court’s jurisdiction.
Israel argued in its application for the warrants to be withdrawn that the court “doesn’t have, and never had” jurisdiction to issue warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Israel is not a member of the court and contends the ICC has no authority to prosecute Israeli nations. The Hague-based institution, however, has accepted “The State of Palestine” as one of its 126 member nations.
ICC chief prosecutor Khan is currently on leave until the conclusion of an external probe into accusations that he tried for more than a year to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her against her will.
An investigation by The Associated Press last year found that two court employees, in whom the alleged victim confided, reported the alleged misconduct in May 2024 to the court’s independent watchdog.
Along with the warrants for the Israeli officials, the court also issued a warrant for Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas’ armed wing, over the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The warrant was withdrawn in February, after his death in an Israeli airstrike was confirmed.