Camp David...the first peace agreement with Israel

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Camp David, an Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement, the most prominent provisions of which stipulate ending the war between the two countries and establishing friendly relations between them. It was signed at the White House on March 26, 1979, months after a framework agreement for peace at the Camp David presidential resort in the United States of America on September 17, 1978. .

The agreement was signed by Egyptian President Mohamed Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and was attended by US President Jimmy Carter. It is the first violation of the Arab consensus that refuses to recognize Israel.

After the signing, relations between Egypt and Israel went through periods of tension and exchange of accusations over the extent of compliance with the requirements of the agreement, and on February 11, 2024, Israeli media reported an Egyptian threat by commenting “if its army moved by ground in Rafah.”

Before peace

The first war between Egypt and Israel dates back to the year 1948, when the first Arab-Israeli war broke out after the end of the British mandate on the land of Palestine and the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel. This war ended with the defeat of the Arabs and was called the “Nakba.”

Over the following years and decades, the military conflict between Egypt and Israel continued, the most prominent of which was the 1956 war in which Britain and France participated alongside Israel. It took place after the announcement of the nationalization of the Suez Canal by then Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and was known as the tripartite aggression against Egypt.

Then Israel attacked Egypt, Syria and Jordan in 1967 simultaneously and suddenly. It was able to paralyze most of the Arab war equipment by destroying aircraft squadrons on the ground. It occupied the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula and the Syrian Golan Heights. This war was known as the “setback” because of the losses it caused to the Arab trio.

With coordination between Egypt and Syria, the October 6, 1973 war broke out against Israel, achieving important goals in its first days. The Egyptian army was able to cross the Suez Canal and destroy the Bar Lev Line. The Syrian forces also penetrated to Lake Tiberias, passing through the Golan Heights, before the Israeli army was able to Reoccupying it and crossing to the western bank of the Suez Canal, the war continued for about 20 days and ended with a ceasefire agreement sponsored by the United Nations.

Based on Resolutions 338, 339, and 340 issued by the United Nations Security Council in the last days of the war, talks began between Egypt and Israel that reached what was known as the 101 Kilo Negotiations Agreement, then the first disengagement agreement in Geneva on January 18, 1974, and the second disengagement agreement. On September 4, 1975.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had a remarkable presence in the talks between the two parties during this stage, and he stated in press interviews that the US administration sought to stand up to the Arab victory over Israel as a blow to the United States itself.

Contexts and actors

The context of the events says that the nature of Sadat’s personality, seeking to achieve victory, even partial, after resounding defeats for the Arabs in three successive wars (1948, 1956, and 1967) was a reason for a shift in the Egyptian position, especially in light of the UN Security Council resolutions that paved the way for sitting at the negotiating table side by side. With the Israelis and signing truce agreements.

Also, during the period following the war, Egypt faced an economic crisis that forced the Sadat regime, which promised economic prosperity to its people, to change the compass of the alliance towards the capitalist West. It also forced him to announce a draft budget that would raise the prices of most consumer goods. One of its results was what was known as the Bread Revolution at the beginning of the year. 1977, which broke out simultaneously in many Egyptian cities.

On November 9, 1977, Sadat announced before the Egyptian People’s Assembly his readiness to visit Jerusalem and speak before the Israeli Knesset, which Menachem Begin saw as a good opportunity, so he sent an invitation to Sadat.

On November 20, 1977, Sadat was giving a speech before the Israeli Knesset, in which he reviewed his vision for peace, and stressed that the idea was not new to him and that it was risky. They then invited Begin to visit Egypt, which happened on December 25, 1977, when the Ismailia Summit Conference.

Under the sponsorship of US President Jimmy Carter, the two parties entered into negotiations at the Camp David resort in the United States of America, which resulted in the signing of the framework agreement for peace on September 17, 1978, and then the official signing of the peace agreement on March 26, 1979 by the late Egyptian president. Muhammad Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

Highlights items

The terms of the Camp David Accords included the first official Arab recognition of Israel, its sovereignty over the Palestinian territories it occupies, and its right to live in peace, with both the Egyptian and Israeli parties pledging “to ensure that no acts of war, aggressive acts, acts of violence, or threats thereof will occur.” from within its territory,” and to bring to trial the perpetrators of or participation in these acts.

The first article represents the most prominent contents of the agreement, as it stipulates ending the state of war between the two parties and establishing normal and friendly relations between them. It also stipulates that Israel will withdraw “its armed forces and civilians from Sinai beyond the international borders between Egypt and mandated Palestine.”

The terms of the agreement include establishing agreed-upon arrangements to provide maximum security for both parties, including areas with limited armament in Egyptian or Israeli territory, the presence of international forces and observers from the United Nations, and granting Israeli ships and shipments heading to and from Israel the right of free passage through the Suez Canal and its entrances. .

The agreement also stipulates that the two parties pledge not to enter into any obligations that conflict with it, and that the obligations arising from it will be binding and enforceable even in the event of their contradiction with other previous obligations of its parties.

Egypt is outside the Arab League

The Baghdad Summit on November 2, 1978 carried the most prominent Arab response to the framework agreement for peace between Egypt and Israel, as it issued a resolution prohibiting unilateral reconciliation with Israel, and called on Sadat’s government to withdraw from the peace project as it was a departure from the Arab consensus that rejected negotiation.

The summit, called for by 10 Arab leaders, also decided to implement economic laws to block Egyptian companies that deal with Israel, while avoiding any measures that would harm the interests of the Egyptian people, and tasked foreign ministers with developing these measures.

But Sadat went on the path of peace with Israel and signed the agreement the following March, to which the Arab League responded by suspending Egypt’s membership, moving the headquarters of the General Secretariat from Cairo to Tunisia, and appointing Al-Shazly Al-Qalibi as the new Secretary-General, the only non-Egyptian to hold the position. Egypt did not regain its membership until 10 years later, specifically in 1989.

Before the final signing of the treaty, Egyptian President Mohamed Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize shared between them on October 27, 1978, but Sadat decided not to receive it directly and donated its financial value to the residents of his village of Mit Abu al-Koum in Menoufia.

Historical turning points

On February 11, 2024, at a time when the international media spoke of an Israeli military plan to storm the southern Gaza Strip along the Egyptian border, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Egypt had informed Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of suspending the Camp David Accords “if its army moved by ground in Rafah,” considering that The agreement prohibits any movement of military forces on the border without agreement between the two parties.

While the Egyptian government did not issue anything confirming the threatening message to Israel, figures close to the Egyptian regime warned against “provoking the situation to explode,” and considered that “Egypt’s borders constitute a red line.”

This was not the first time of its kind. Over the decades that followed the signing of Camp David, the Egyptian and Israeli parties exchanged accusations more than once about the extent of compliance with the requirements of the agreement, according to a document dating back to 1981 and revealed by the CIA on April 26, 2008, Before his assassination on October 6, 1981, Sadat was thinking about severing relations, as he considered that Israel and the United States had abandoned their pledges.

Egypt did not regain the Taba region until March 1989, that is, 10 years after the signing of the Camp David Accords, and several months after the Hague Court ruled in September 1988 that Egypt had the right to the region.

The coldness in relations reached its peak with the Israeli military invasion of Palestinian cities on April 2, 2002, when the Egyptian Minister of Information at the time, Safwat Al-Sharif, announced the cessation of all communications between the governments of the two countries, except for “diplomatic channels that serve the Palestinian cause.”

After the revolution of January 25, 2011, several incidents occurred on the border, including an Israeli attack that led to the killing of 6 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai during August 2011, which caused a state of popular unrest and tension in relations, and led to the storming of the Israeli embassy in Cairo for the first time in its history. .

Israel has also directed many accusations against Egypt of not implementing the provisions of the agreement over the past decades, and in August 2012 it considered that the introduction of fighter planes, tanks and armored vehicles into Sinai under the pretext of war on the sources of terrorism without prior coordination constitutes a blatant violation of the agreement, and called for their removal after the end of the agreement. Military operations.

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