Remarks at the Camp David Meeting on the Middle East
(September 17, 1978)
PRESIDENT CARTER. When we first arrived at Camp David,
the first thing upon which we agreed was to ask the people of the world
to pray that our negotiations would be successful. Those prayers have
been answered far beyond any expectations. We are privileged to witness
tonight a significant achievement in the cause of peace, an achievement
none thought possible a year ago, or even a month ago, an achievement
that reflects the courage and wisdom of these two leaders.
Through 13 long days at Camp David, we have seen them
display determination and vision and flexibility which was needed to
make this agreement come to pass. All of us owe them our gratitude and
respect. They know that they will always have my personal admiration.
There are still great difficulties that remain and
many hard issues to be settled. The questions that have brought warfare
and bitterness to the Middle East for the last 30 years will not be
settled overnight. But we should all recognize the substantial achievements
that have been made.
One of the agreements that President Sadat and Prime
Minister Begin are signing tonight is entitled, "A Framework for
Peace in the Middle East."
This framework concerns the principles and some specifics,
in the most substantive way, which will govern a comprehensive peace
settlement. It deals specifically with the future of the West Bank and
Gaza and the need to resolve the Palestinian problem in all its aspects.
The framework document proposes a 5-year transitional period in the
West Bank and Gaza during which the Israeli military government will
be withdrawn and a self-governing authority will be elected with full
autonomy. It also provides for Israeli forces to remain in specified
locations during this period to protect Israel's security.
The Palestinians will have the right to participate
in the determination of their own future, in negotiations which will
resolve the final status of the West Bank and Gaza, and then to produce
an Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.
These negotiations will be based on all the provisions
and all the principles of United Nations Security Council Resolution
242. And it provides that Israel may live in peace, within secure and
recognized borders. And this great aspiration of Israel has been certified
without constraint, with the greatest degree of enthusiasm, by President
Sadat, the leader of one of the greatest nations on Earth.
The other document is entitled, "Framework for
the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty Between Egypt and Israel."
It provides for the full exercise of Egyptian sovereignty
over the Sinai. It calls for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from
the Sinai and, after an interim withdrawal which will be accomplished
very quickly, the establishment of normal, peaceful relations between
the two countries, including diplomatic relations.
Together with accompanying letters, which we will make
public tomorrow, these two Camp David agreements provide the basis for
progress and peace throughout the Middle East.
There is one issue on which agreement has not been
reached. Egypt states that the agreement to remove Israeli settlements
from Egyptian territory is a prerequisite to a peace treaty. Israel
states that the issue of the Israeli settlements should be resolved
during the peace negotiations. That's a substantial difference. Within
the next 2 weeks, the Knesset will decide on the issue of these settlements.
Tomorrow night, I will go before the Congress to explain
these agreements more fully and to talk about their implications for
the United States and for the world. For the moment, and in closing,
I want to speak more personally about my admiration for all of those
who have taken part in this process and my hope that the promise of
this moment will be fulfilled.
During the last 2 weeks, the members of all three delegations
have spent endless hours, day and night, talking, negotiating, grappling
with problems that have divided their people for 30 years. Whenever
there was a danger that human energy would fail, or patience would be
exhausted or good will would run out—and there were many such
moments—these two leaders and the able advisers in all delegations
found the resources within them to keep the chances for peace alive.
Well, the long days at Camp David are over. But many
months of difficult negotiations still lie ahead. I hope that the foresight
and the wisdom that have made this session a success will guide these
leaders and the leaders of all nations as they continue the progress
toward peace. Thank you very much.
PRESIDENT SADAT. Dear President Carter, in this historic
moment, I would like to express to you my heartfelt congratulations
and appreciation. For long days and nights, you devoted your time and
energy to the pursuit of peace. You have been most courageous when you
took the gigantic step of convening this meeting. The challenge was
great and the risks were high, but so was your determination. You made
a commitment to be a full partner in the peace process. I'm happy to
say that you have honored your commitment.
The signing of the framework for the comprehensive
peace settlement has a significance far beyond the event. It signals
the emergence of a new peace initiative, with the American nation in
the heart of the entire process.
In the weeks ahead, important decisions have to be
made if we are to proceed on the road to peace. We have to reaffirm
the faith of the Palestinian people in the ideal of peace.
The continuation of your active role is indispensable.
We need your help and the support of the American people. Let me seize
this opportunity to thank each and every American for his genuine interest
in the cause of people in the Middle East.
Dear friend, we came to Camp David with all the good
will and faith we possessed, and we left Camp David a few minutes ago
with a renewed sense of hope and inspiration. We are looking forward
to the days ahead with an added determination to pursue the noble goal
of peace.
Your able assistants spared no effort to bring out
this happy conclusion. We appreciate their spirit and dedication. Our
hosts at Camp David and the State of Maryland were most generous and
hospitable. To each one of them and to all those who are watching this
great event, I say thank you.
Let us join in a prayer to God Almighty to guide our
path. Let us pledge to make the spirit of Camp David a new chapter in
the history of our nations.
Thank you, Mr. President.
PRIME MINISTER BEGIN. Mr. President of the United States,
Mr. President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, ladies and gentlemen:
The Camp David conference should be renamed. It was
the Jimmy Carter conference. [Laughter]
The President undertook an initiative most imaginative
in our time and brought President Sadat and myself and our colleagues
and friends and advisers together under one roof. In itself, it was
a great achievement. But the President took a great risk for himself
and did it with great civil courage. And it was a famous French field
commander who said that it is much more difficult to show civil courage
than military courage.
And the President worked. As far as my historic experience
is concerned, I think that he worked harder than our forefathers did
in Egypt building the pyramids. [Laughter]
Yes, indeed, he worked day and night, and so did we—
[laughter] —
PRESIDENT CARTER. Amen.
PRIME MINISTER BEGIN. Day and night. We used to go
to bed at Camp David between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, arise,
as we are used to since our boyhood, between 5 and 6, and continue working.
The President showed interest in every section, every
paragraph, every sentence, every word, every letter— [laughter]
—of the framework agreements.
We had some difficult moments—as usually there
are some crises in negotiations, as usually somebody gives a hint that
perhaps he would like to pick up and go home. [Laughter] It's all usual.
But ultimately, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States
won the day. And peace now celebrates a great victory for the nations
of Egypt and Israel and for all mankind.
Mr. President, we, the Israelis, thank you from the
bottom of our hearts for all you have done for the sake of peace, for
which we prayed and yearned more than 30 years. The Jewish people suffered
much, too much. And, therefore, peace to us is a striving, coming innermost
from our heart and soul.
Now, when I came here to the Camp David conference,
I said, perhaps as a result of our work, one day people will, in every
corner of the world, be able to say, Habemus pacem, in the spirit of
these days. Can we say so tonight? Not yet. We still have to go a road
until my friend President Sadat and I sign the peace treaties.
We promised each other that we shall do so within 3
months. Mr. President [referring to President Sadat], tonight, at this
celebration of the great historic event, let us promise each other that
we shall do it earlier than within 3 months.
Mr. President, you inscribed your name forever in the
history of two ancient civilized peoples, the people of Egypt and the
people of Israel. Thank you, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT CARTER. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER BEGIN. Oh, no, no, no. I would like
to say a few words about my friend, President Sadat. We met for the
first time in our lives last November in Jerusalem. He came to us as
a guest, a former enemy, and during our first meeting we became friends.
In the Jewish teachings, there is a tradition that
the greatest achievement of a human being is to turn his enemy into
a friend, and this we do in reciprocity. Since then, we had some difficult
days. [Laughter] I'm not going now to tell you the saga of those days.
Everything belongs to the past. Today, I visited President Sadat in
his cabin, because in Camp David you don't have houses, you only have
cabins. [Laughter] And he then came to visit me. We shook hands. And,
thank God, we again could have said to each other, "You are my
friend."
And, indeed, we shall go on working in understanding,
and in friendship, and with good will. We will still have problems to
solve. Camp David proved that any problem can be solved if there is
good will and understanding and some, some wisdom.
May I thank my own colleagues and friends, the Foreign
Minister, the Defense Minister, Professor Barak, who was the Attorney
General—and now he is going to be His Honor, the Justice of the
Supreme Court, the Israeli Brandeis—and Dr. Rosenne, and our wonderful
Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Simcha Dinitz, and all our friends,
because without them that achievement wouldn't have been possible.
I express my thanks to all the members of the American
delegation, headed by the Secretary of State, a man whom we love and
respect. And so, I express my thanks to all the members of the Egyptian
delegation who worked so hard together with us, headed by Deputy Prime
Minister, Mr. Touhamy, for all they have done to achieve this moment.
It is a great moment in the history of our nations and, indeed, of mankind.
I looked for a precedent; I didn't find it. It was
a unique conference, perhaps one of the most important since the Vienna
Conference in the 19th century, perhaps.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to turn to
my own people from the White House in my own native tongue.
[At this point, the Prime Minister spoke briefly in
Hebrew.]
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
PRESIDENT CARTER. The first document that we will sign
is entitled, "A Framework for Peace in the Middle East Agreed at
Camp David," and the texts of these two documents will be released
tomorrow. The documents will be signed by President Sadat and Prime
Minister Begin, and it will be witnessed by me. We have to exchange
three documents, so we'll all sign three times for this one.
[At this point, President Sadat, Prime Minister Begin,
and President Carter signed the first document.]
I might say that the first document is quite comprehensive
in nature, encompassing a framework by which Israel can later negotiate
peace treaties between herself and Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, as well as
the outline of this document that we will now sign.
And as you will later see, in studying the documents,
it also provides for the realization of the hopes and dreams of the
people who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and will assure Israel
peace in the generations ahead.
This second document is the one relating to a framework
for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. This is the document that
calls for the completion of the peace treaty negotiations within 3 months.
And I have noticed the challenge extended by these two gentlemen to
each other. They will complete within 3 months—I might say that
this document encompasses almost all of the issues between the two countries
and resolves those issues. A few lines remain to be drawn on maps, and
the question of the settlements is to be resolved. Other than that,
most of the major issues are resolved already in this document.
We will now sign this document as well.
[At this point, President Sadat, Prime Minister Begin,
and President Carter signed the second document.]
PRESIDENT CARTER. Thank you very much.
Sources: Public Papers of the President |