THE CAMP DAVID ACCORDS

After Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s unprecedented trip to Jerusalem in 1977, he and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin met in 1978 at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland for talks sponsored by President Jimmy Carter. The result was the Camp David Accords, which were the basis for the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979 and remain the basis for the Middle East peace plan proposed by Israel’s current prime minister, Yitzhak Shamir. The accords consisted of two major documents, “Framework for a Peace Treaty Between Egypt and Israel” and “Framework for Peace in the Middle East.” Among the main points of the accords:

An end to the state of war between Israel and Egypt and establishment of full diplomatic relations, the first between Israel and an Arab nation.

A promise that Israel would withdraw from the Egyptian Sinai, occupied during the 1967 Middle East War. Except for one small parcel of land in dispute, this has been accomplished.

A pledge by both sides to open talks--with Jordan invited, and also with the possible participation of Palestinian negotiators--on the future shape of “full autonomy” for the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Upon establishment of an elected Palestinian “self-governing authority” in the territories, the Israeli military would be withdrawn.

The first two points were carried out, but the third has yet to get off the ground. Jordan has proved reluctant to get fully involved in the peace process, and Israel and Egypt differ markedly on questions including the definition of terms such as autonomy (in Egypt’s view, autonomy would eventually lead to Palestinian statehood, to which Israel is opposed). As a result, the promised autonomy talks have never taken place, and the Israeli military still controls the territories. Four years after Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem, he was assassinated.