🏜️ Framework 1: Egypt and Israel
This set out a peace treaty between the two countries. Israel would hand back the whole of Sinai, and in return Egypt would make peace and agree to normal relations with Israel.
Diplomacy, Peace Then Wider War, 1973-83 » The Camp David Agreements: Terms and Results
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B7, Key topic 4
- What the two Camp David Agreements of 1978 said
- What the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979 changed
- Why the Palestinian question stayed unsolved and the Arab world turned on Egypt
- Why Sadat was assassinated in 1981
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Unlock This CourseTwo agreements, signed in September 1978
On 17 September 1978 Sadat and Begin signed two documents with Carter at the White House. They are called the Camp David Agreements. Each document is a framework: an outline plan, with the details to be worked out later.
Key terms:
- Framework: an outline plan for an agreement, with the details left to be settled later.
- Autonomy: a people running their own local affairs, without being a fully independent state.
- Normal relations: the ordinary links between friendly countries, such as ambassadors, trade and travel.
- Assassination: the murder of a leader or public figure for political reasons.
📜 Framework 2: the West Bank and Gaza
This was a plan for Palestinian autonomy. The people of the West Bank and Gaza would elect their own self-governing authority for a transition of up to five years, and talks would follow on what should happen after that.
The peace treaty of 1979
The first framework became a real treaty. Egypt and Israel signed it on 26 March 1979, again at the White House, with Carter looking on. Its main terms were:
- Israel would withdraw from the whole of Sinai in stages, within three years of the treaty coming into force.
- Egypt recognised Israel and the two countries would exchange ambassadors.
- Israeli ships could use the Suez Canal and the Straits of Tiran.
- Parts of Sinai would have limits on how many soldiers Egypt could place there, so that Israel was safer.
Israel kept its promise. Its soldiers and settlers left Sinai and Israel completed its withdrawal on 25 April 1982. Egypt became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel. Sadat and Begin shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, and both Egypt and Israel became leading receivers of American aid.
The results
✅ A safer Israel, a richer Egypt
Israel no longer faced its strongest Arab neighbour in war, so it no longer had to guard a southern front against a large army. Egypt regained all of Sinai without another war, and American money helped its struggling economy.
❌ The Palestinian question unsettled
The Palestinians were not at the talks. The PLO rejected the plan because it had been left out of the talks and the plan offered only limited autonomy, not a state, and Begin read the autonomy plan narrowly. Israel went on building Jewish settlements in the West Bank. The talks on autonomy made no progress, and no self-governing authority was elected in these years.
Anger in the Arab world
Most Arab states felt that Sadat had broken ranks. By making a separate peace, they said, he had given up the Arab cause and left the Palestinians alone. In 1979 the Arab League suspended Egypt and moved its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Many Arab governments cut their links with Egypt. Egypt was shut out of Arab politics for most of the next ten years. Without Egypt, the strongest Arab army, the Arab states were also less able to fight a large war against Israel.
The assassination of Sadat, 1981
At home, Sadat made enemies too. Some Egyptians thought he had sold out to Israel, and his government jailed many critics in 1981. On 6 October 1981 Sadat was watching a military parade in Cairo. The parade marked the anniversary of the crossing of the Suez Canal in 1973. Soldiers who belonged to an Islamist group opposed to his policies jumped from a lorry and shot him. He died soon afterwards. They were angry about his peace with Israel and his crackdown on opponents. His vice-president, Hosni Mubarak, took over. Mubarak kept the treaty with Israel, so the peace survived its maker.
Common mistakes
- Saying the Palestinians got self-rule at Camp David. They were promised a plan, but the plan was not carried out in these years.
- Mixing up the two documents. The Camp David Agreements are the frameworks of 1978. The peace treaty is the separate document of 1979.
- Saying Egypt was welcomed by the Arab world. Most Arab states turned against Egypt.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO causes of the anger of other Arab states towards Egypt after 1979. [8 marks]
Model answer
One cause was that Egypt made a separate peace. In the Camp David Agreements and the 1979 treaty, Sadat recognised Israel and agreed to exchange ambassadors, without the other Arab states. They felt he had broken ranks and given up the Arab cause, so in 1979 the Arab League suspended Egypt and moved its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis.
A second cause was that the Palestinian question was left unsolved. The second framework offered the West Bank and Gaza only limited autonomy, the PLO had been left out of the talks, and Israel kept building settlements in the West Bank. Arab leaders therefore said that Sadat had traded Sinai for Egypt's own gain and abandoned the Palestinians, which led many of them to cut their links with Egypt.
This is a top answer because it gives two causes, each with precise facts, and shows how each one led to the anger.
Exam tip
Give two different causes. One cause on its own can earn no more than 4 of the 8 marks.