The Gantz Megillah.

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That is stupid in so many ways. Egypt came to Israel looking for peace because Sadat realized that continued war would bring nothing but suffering for the Egyptian people, and in return Egypt got the land it has lost to Israel, Sinai.

All the Palestinians can hope to gain from continuing this war against Israel is more suffering for the Palestinian people and according to their own polls, that is just fine with them so if they cared about their children, they would stop sacrificing them in their puny wars.

That's when Carter began paying foreign aid to Egypt.

Carter Is Said to Put New U.S. Aid For Israel and Egypt at $4 Billion (Published 1979)

Pres Carter reptdly tells members of Cong that peace treaty will cost Amer taxpayers $4 billion; illus (M)

www.nytimes.com

 

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WASHINGTON, March 14 — United States officials said today that the conclusion of an Egyptian‐Israeli peace treaty would cost the American taxpayer $4 billion and was likely to lead to new but relatively loose security arrangements between the two countries and Washington.

President Carter, in a meeting with members of Congress today, reportedly said the $4 billion in economic and military assistance would go to Egypt and Israel over the next three years. According to participants at the meeting, the United States has not yet decided how to divide this total between the two countries.

Carter Is Said to Put New U.S. Aid For Israel and Egypt at $4 Billion (Published 1979)

Pres Carter reptdly tells members of Cong that peace treaty will cost Amer taxpayers $4 billion; illus (M)

www.nytimes.com

 

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How Jimmy Carter Brokered a Hard-Won Peace Deal Between Israel and Egypt | HISTORY

The 1978 Camp David Accords secured a lasting peace between two longtime enemies in the Middle East.

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HomeTopicsU.S. PresidentsHow Jimmy Carter Brokered a Hard-Won Peace Deal Between Israel and Egypt
How Jimmy Carter Brokered a Hard-Won Peace Deal Between Israel and Egypt
The 1978 Camp David Accords secured a lasting peace between two longtime enemies in the Middle East.
BY: JESSE GREENSPAN

UPDATED: NOVEMBER 1, 2023 | ORIGINAL: OCTOBER 21, 2019

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DAVID HUME KENNERLY/GETTY IMAGES
Israel and Egypt did not make good neighbors. In the three decades following modern Israel’s founding in 1948, the two countries waged four major wars against one another, plus a so-called War of Attrition in which they traded artillery fire along the Suez Canal.

Here's How the Camp David Accords Impacted the Middle East

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Glimmers of hope began to appear, however, around the time Jimmy Carter took office in 1977. From day one of his presidency, Carter showed great interest in the conflict, spending much time and political capital cajoling Egypt’s and Israel’s leaders toward what he believed would be a mutually beneficial deal.

By the summer of 1978, with peace tantalizingly close, negotiations stalled. To break the impasse, Carter invited Egypt’s President Anwar el-Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin to a summit at Camp David, sequestering them for nearly two weeks as the terms of a peace agreement were painstakingly hammered out.

Since then, Israel and Egypt have not once come to blows, even as tensions between them remain high.

Israel and Egypt Head to the Negotiating Table
As president, the Georgia-born Carter initially tried to incorporate all the warring Middle Eastern parties in negotiations, including Jordan, Syria and the Palestinians. He likewise wanted to bring in the Soviet Union.

“For Carter a comprehensive peace agreement was not just the right thing to do, but he believed it would improve U.S.-Soviet relations and strengthen the U.S. position in the Arab world,” says Craig Daigle, an associate professor of history at the City College of New York, who is currently writing a book entitled Camp David and the Remaking of the Middle East.

It soon became clear, however, that Egypt and Israel preferred dealing solely with each other, and Carter adjusted his expectations accordingly. “One of Carter’s achievements is that he was smart enough…and agile enough to support what Sadat and Begin were doing in essentially a bilateral process,” Daniel C. Kurtzer, a professor of Middle East policy studies at Princeton University and a former U.S. ambassador to both Egypt and Israel, tells HISTORY.




In what’s been called a “psychological breakthrough,” Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel in November 1977, touring Jerusalem and addressing Israel’s parliament. “You want to live with us in this part of the world,” Sadat declared. “In all sincerity, I tell you, we welcome you among us, with full security and safety.”

Begin reciprocated by flying to Ismailia, Egypt, where peace talks got underway. Their historic enmity notwithstanding, the two countries actually faced similar national security challenges. “[They] had a shared interest in fighting the rise of Islamic radicalism,” Daigle points out, plus “they both wanted to prevent Soviet intervention in the region, and they both sought U.S. weapons and financial assistance.”

Both Sadat and Begin also felt themselves surrounded by enemies. In Begin’s case, not one of the surrounding Arab countries even recognized Israel’s existence. Sadat, on the other hand, was coping with attempts by Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi to topple him from power. Moreover, Daigle explains, Sadat “feared that the Ethiopian Revolution would spill into neighboring Sudan, which could bring a hostile government to power there and threaten the supply of Nile River water, the lifeblood of the Egyptian economy.”

The Idea for a Summit Forms
Despite high hopes triggered by Sadat’s visit, a negotiating breakthrough proved elusive. “The Israeli approach was very legalistic and focused on details,” Kurtzer says, “while the Egyptian approach was focused on the big picture.”

Complicating matters was a devastating terrorist attack along Israel’s Coastal Highway, followed by a bloody Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, a stronghold for Palestinian militants.

As frustrations mounted, Carter, who stayed involved in negotiations every step of the way, looked to stop the talks from collapsing. Taking the advice of his wife, Rosalynn, he eventually settled on inviting Sadat and Begin to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, believing the bucolic setting might soften the acrimony on all sides.

This strategy was hardly risk free. Carter’s popularity was suffering from rising inflation, unemployment and energy prices, and his advisers worried that a failure at Camp David would make him look weak. Even his vice president, Walter Mondale, warned against it, telling him, “If you fail we’re done. We will sap our stature as national leaders.”

 

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That's when Carter began paying foreign aid to Egypt.

Carter Is Said to Put New U.S. Aid For Israel and Egypt at $4 Billion (Published 1979)

Pres Carter reptdly tells members of Cong that peace treaty will cost Amer taxpayers $4 billion; illus (M)

www.nytimes.com

Since 1978, the United States has provided Egypt with over $50 billion in military and $30 billion in economic assistance. As a result of U.S. government economic assistance to Egypt:

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www.state.gov

 

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Since 1978, the United States has provided Egypt with over $50 billion in military and $30 billion in economic assistance. As a result of U.S. government economic assistance to Egypt:

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www.state.gov

That's right. We pay Egypt for peace with Israel since 1978.