Five weeks after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flew to Jerusalem in November 1977, to accelerate Egyptian – Israeli negotiations, Begin brought to President Jimmy Carter, Israel’s response to Sadat’s peace initiative: political autonomy for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. No Palestinian state was considered.
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Memorandum of Conversation Between U.S. and Egyptian Delegations at Camp David, September 11, 1978 CIE+ CIE+ members only
President Sadat evolved and presented the bulk of Egypt’s views at Camp David, greatly limiting his advisers’ participation. He particularly kept them from demanding Palestinian rights from Israel, which would have ended the talks without an agreement. Sadat anointed President Carter as the more willing, tougher negotiator with the Israelis. Sadat left Camp David with the U.S. at deep odds with the Israelis and Egypt as close as ever to Carter and the Americans.