Camp David summit

The Camp David Accords were the product of secret negotiations held September 5-17, 1978, between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, brokered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. The thirteen-day summit ended with two framework agreements signed on September 17, 1978: "A Framework for Peace in the Middle East" and "A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty Between Egypt and Israel."¹

The first framework established principles for Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza and committed Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestinian representatives to negotiate an agreement within five years. That broader framework produced no subsequent treaty. The second led directly to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty, signed on March 26, 1979 - the first peace agreement between Israel and any of its Arab neighbors.¹

Sadat and Begin shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for the agreements. Sadat's willingness to negotiate was deeply controversial within the Arab world; Egypt was expelled from the Arab League following the 1979 treaty and not readmitted until 1989. Sadat was assassinated in October 1981 by Egyptian Islamic Jihad militants who opposed normalization with Israel.²

The Camp David negotiations had significant intelligence dimensions. Kamal Adham, former director of Saudi intelligence, served as a back-channel intermediary facilitating Saudi acceptance of the framework. Some American intelligence officials suspected that Carter's decision to provide Israel with KH-11 reconnaissance satellite imagery constituted a reward for Begin's flexibility at the summit.³

The Accords were frequently cited as a model for subsequent Arab-Israeli diplomacy, including the Oslo process of the 1990s.