In this animated white board video, we explore Jimmy Carter’s efforts at achieving peace in the Middle East. Beginning with the origins and formulation of Carter’s foreign policy as he prepared to run for President in 1976, the video emphasizes the influence of Zbigniew Brzezinski on Carter’s evolving Middle East policies. These included appeasing Arab countries, embracing Egypt’s Anwar Sadat as he turned away from the Soviet Union, and emphasizing Palestinian rights. It covers the fraying US-Israeli relationship through the end of the Carter administration.
Detailing both Israel and Egypt’s reluctance to participate in a larger Geneva peace conference which would have included multiple parties, the video stresses the bold steps taken by Sadat to visit Jerusalem in November 1977. This helped launch face to face talks and was followed by Carter’s decision to invite the parties to Camp David the following year. Finally, the video lays out the issues negotiated at Camp David and how many of the unresolved issues from the summit are still outstanding.