March 26, 1979
Sixteen months after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem and address to the Knesset, he joins Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the White House to sign the first Israeli peace treaty with an Arab neighbor. Nearly 1,500 people attend the ceremony. Begin and Sadat both give credit to President Jimmy Carter for his role in the negotiations. Carter hosted the leaders and their delegations at Camp David in September 1978, producing the Camp David Accords, and he engaged in shuttle diplomacy between Cairo and Jerusalem earlier in March to ensure the success of the negotiations.
The centerpiece of the treaty is Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula over three years in return for Egyptian recognition, the end the state of war between the countries and the establishment of normal diplomatic relations. The treaty contains nine articles, a military annex, an annex dealing with relations between the parties, and agreed minutes interpreting the main articles of the treaty. The document lays out the withdrawal schedule, the exchange of ambassadors and security arrangements. A plan for autonomy talks for the Palestinians, a key element of the Camp David Accords, is relegated to a letter from Sadat and Begin to Carter and does not produce negotiations.
In a separate Israel-U.S. Memorandum of Agreement on the same day, the United States spells out its commitments to Israel’s security in case the treaty is violated, namely the supply of military and economic aid to Israel. In the meantime, the United States agrees to provide military aid to both Israel and Egypt.