History Daily - The Signing of the Camp David Accords

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

September 17, 1978. The leaders of Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords, the first step toward a permanent peace treaty between their countries. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

It's October 6, 1973 on the Suez Canal in Egypt. An Egyptian army officer grips the side of a dinghy as it races across the water. You can barely hear the noise of its engine. It's drowned out by the screaming of jets, the thump of artillery, and distance explosions of gunshots. His squad of soldiers and combat engineers sit beside him, staring forward with their eyes peal. They're here to take back the Sinai Peninsula,

a vast desert territory east of the Suez Canal that has been occupied by Israel for the last six years. As the dinghy hits the shore, the Egyptian soldiers leap out, dragging long hoses with them. Ahead of them is a high wall of sand. Nearly 60 feet from top to bottom, it lines the eastern bank of the Suez Canal and is Israel's first line of defense against Egyptian attack. But the Egyptians have come prepared. The hoses they're dragging across the sand are connected to high-pressure pumps imported from Europe. Using water drawn straight from the canal, the jets should quickly cut through the sand barrier. As his men begin demolishing the wall, the officer scans the battle team. He can see more squads of soldiers to the north and south.

Some have water pumps like his men, but others are building a floating pontoon bridge across the water. On the other side of the canal, Egyptian tanks and transports. supports wait, idling their engines and ready to cross as soon as the bridge is finished. The officer looks up as more jets roar overhead. They're friendlies, returning from a bombing run, meant to delay the Israeli counterattack. This officer isn't an airman, but he can see that the squadron has taken losses. The Israeli military is a formidable enemy. Even with Egypt's Syrian allies launching a simultaneous attack from the north,

this officer knows that Israel will hit back hard. He only hopes the Egyptian forces can achieve their objective before they do. The timing of this offensive is deliberate. Today is the Jewish Holy Day of Yom Kippur, and Egyptian military planners believe the Israelis will be unprepared for an attack. But the Egyptians won't be able to reclaim all of the Sinai Peninsula in their surprise assault, and a formal state of war will persist between Egypt and Israel for another five years until the groundwork for peace is laid in the Camp David Accords,

signed on September 17, 1978. Hello, History Daily listeners. The live show I've been telling you about for a few weeks has a new date, October 23rd at the Plaza Theater in Garland, Texas. This is my Days That Made America Tour, a thrilling evening of history, storytelling, and music with me and a band live on stage. So if you're in the North Texas area or anywhere close,

be sure to come out and see me live. More shows will be announced soon, too. So for information on tickets and upcoming dates, go to historydailylive.com. That's historydailylive.com. Come see my Days at Made America Tour, live on stage. Go to historydaily.com. From Noisor and Airship, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily. History is made every day.

On this podcast, every day, we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is September 17, 1978. the signing of the Camp David Accords. It's November 9, 97 in Cairo, Egypt, four years after the Yom Kupur War. President Anwar Sadat takes his seat in the People's Assembly. High on the wall behind him is the Egyptian coat of arms. Before him are hundreds of representatives from the country's parliament.

They sit in silence as Sadat begins to speak. Sadat has ruled Egypt as an effective dictator since his predecessor died from a heart attack in 1970. And since taking power, Sadat has sought to make his mark on the country, especially in the arena of foreign policy. While his predecessor aligned Egypt with the Soviet Union, Sadat has focused on improving relations with the United States. Still, the biggest foreign policy question for Egypt lies much closer to home.

The modern state of Israel was established 30 years ago in the wake of World War II. Its creation was bitterly opposed by neighboring Arab states, which believed the people of Palestine were being forcibly displaced. Supporters of Israel, though, regarded the new state as an expression of Jewish self-determination and a refuge after centuries of persecution. This fundamental disagreement has repeatedly turned deadly. In one clash in 1967, Israel launched a surprise attack on Egypt and occupied the Sinai Peninsula, recovering this territory and safeguarding the Suez Canal have been Sadat's priorities since day one. The Yom Kippur War was his attempt to force the issue. Sadat never expected to reclaim the entire Sinai in one operation,

but he hoped Egyptian success in the war would bring Israel to the negotiating table, and he was right. In the years since, he's made steady diplomatic progress. After careful negotiations, the Israeli military has gradually pulled back from the Suez Canal. But talks have become bogged down on the larger questions, like the ongoing Israeli occupation of the rest of the Sinai, Palestinian political rights, and wider Arab recognition of Israel. And everyone from Moscow to Washington seems to want to say in the peace process. America has suggested a peace conference, but no one can agree on who should attend or the terms for discussion. No progress is being made, so Sadat has decided to take a different approach.

He starts his speech to the Egyptian Parliament by discussing the Sinai and the necessity of a just peace. Everyone can agree with that. But then, Sadat says that he is prepared to go anywhere to secure that peace even to Jerusalem. There's a ripple of confused whispers through the hall. Egypt doesn't recognize Israel, and it certainly doesn't accept that Jerusalem is its capital. So some in the audience believe they've misheard Sadat. Others assume it was just a rhetorical flourish. But Sadat has not been misheard, and he isn't being rhetorical.

He's been considering this move for months. Back-channel talks have established that both Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Monachim Begin are willing to meet, in principle at least. Now Sadat has made his offer public and put pressure on Begin to respond. Soon, there's a hurried debate in the Israeli cabinet, and then Begin sends the invitation. Only 10 days after his speech, President Sadat lands in Israel. It's an achievement of diplomacy just to get this far, but tensions remain high. The Israeli military is on alert, and snipers watch Sadat's plane as it lands,

ready for any threat against the foreign dignitaries or from them. But there is no trick. Sadat steps onto the runway and smiles for the cameras. The next day he meets with Begin. Begin has only recently been elected Prime Minister, and his right-wing Lakud Party has never held power before. Begin has long supported the settlement of occupied territories, including Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. In theory, this should make peace talks almost impossible, but Sadat hopes that Begin will be able to make concessions

which were politically impossible for his predecessors. But in their first meeting, they don't agree on much. And when Sadat addresses the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, his speech doesn't break new ground. But it's Sadat's presence in Israel that is the real message, and it's one that's heard all around the world, sending shockwaves through Middle Eastern politics. So while both the Americans and the Soviets have suggested a peace conference, Sadat has seized a diplomatic initiative, and for a time, Egypt and Israel tried to resolve their differences

without the involvement of the world's superpowers. But over the next year, the talks between Begin and Sadat hit roadblocks. The leaders are unable to agree on key issues, like the future of Israeli settlements in the Sinai and the West Bank or the fate of Palestinian refugees. So the U.S. President Jimmy Carter takes the reins for the peace effort. He'll do his best to mediate between the two sides, but he will soon decide that for diplomacy to have any chance of success,

Sadat and Begin will have to be in the same place at the same time. It's September 16, 1978, at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States, ten months after Anmar Sadat addressed the Knesset. 36-year-old security advisor William Quant slumps into the chair in his cabin. He lights a cigarette and inhales deeply. His exhaustion and stress melt away just a little bit as he enjoys some peace and quiet. With the delegations of three nations filling Camp David, he's had precious little time to himself.

It's the last full day of a summit between President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister in Monachem Begin. The talks have been mediated by the U.S. President Jimmy Carter. And as a member of Carter's National Security Council and an expert on the Middle East, William has been integral to these negotiations. But they haven't been straightforward. It took months of careful diplomacy just to get the two leaders here. But after the first days of the summit, Sadat and Begin refused to be in the same room as each other. Even though there are no Palestinians at the talks,

Sadat has insisted on addressing the future of Gaza and the West Bank, alongside bilateral relations between Israel and Egypt. But for Begin, talk of territorial withdrawal and any language that might lead to Palestinian statehood raised profound security and ideological concerns. So the American hosts have to go from cabin to cabin, drafting terms with one party, presenting them to the other, and then returning with objections. This has slowed progress to a crawl, but at least it's avoided a blow-up that might sink the entire summit.

And now, after 12 days, the two sides have agreed on several broad points. But there are still major stumbling blocks, Israeli settlements in Sinai and the future of Palestine. Sadat demands the complete end of Israeli presence in the Sinai, and a firm timetable for Palestinian autonomy. But Begin has ruled out both. William has already drafted a speech for President Carter, blaming the breakdown of the talks on Begin's refusal to budge. But Carter is reluctant to use it, still hoping that some form of a deal can be struck. Stubbing out his cigarette, William is jolted from his thoughts by the cabin's phone ringing. It's his boss, National Security Advisor Zvignev Brzynski. There's just been a meeting between the president and the

Israelis, and there's hope for a breakthrough. After strongly resisting the idea of removing Israeli settlements from the Sinai, Begin has agreed that he will put their fate to a vote in the Israeli parliament. Zbigniev shares a quip he heard that Begin will finesse it at the Knesset, and William laughs, not just at the joke, but also from relief. They are one step closer to an agreement. All there is to do now is come up with a resolution on Palestine, which both Sadat and Begin can accept. That is no small task, William thinks to himself, but they have to try. So the next morning, negotiators begin shuttling back and forth between the two signs.

While the talks continue, William Quant is at his desk, working on a speech for the president that will announce the success of the summit. He doesn't know if the words he's writing will ever be heard, but he knows that they have to ready just in case. Then finally, late in the afternoon, it's confirmed that an agreement has been settled between the Egyptians and the Israelis. The wording is deliberately vague, but it has to be if it was to have any chance of being accepted by both sides. This agreement consists of two major frameworks. The first deals with Palestine, Gaza, and the West Bank. It's a shell of what President Carter once hoped it would be. The future of the Palestinians is left unclear with only

vague promises of autonomy and rights further down the line. But even this limited framework will hopefully give Sadat the necessary diplomatic cover for the second and more extensive agreement. This one deals more specifically with Egyptian-Israeli relations. It's on firmer ground, with fixed deadlines for Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and normalize relations between the two countries. Sadat's advisors have warned him that many other Arab leaders will view this deal as being bought with Palestinian suffering. And William Quant and others in the Carter administration have doubts about whether such a thin agreement will stick.

But as has become the unofficial mantra of the Camp David Summit, politics is the art of the possible. Even the idealistic Jimmy Carter has had to bow to the reality of this moment, and so despite everyone's misgivings, the terms of the accord are agreed. Planning immediately turns to the signing ceremony at the White House, And in front of the world's media, there will be no sign of the turbulence of the past 13 days. Instead, the three leaders will shake hands, embrace, sign the agreement, and hope that the world will be able to see past all its flaws.

It's the evening of September 17, 1978, in the east room of the White House. President Jimmy Carter walks out to an applauding crowd, flanked by the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Manachem Begin. All three men are beaming from ear to ear. There haven't been many smiles over the last two weeks, but for now at least, their hard work is done. Three men shake hands and embrace as the room continues to applaud.

Then Carter takes his seat, the others follow, and three copies of the frameworks are placed on the desk in front of them. Begin and Sadat sign on behalf of their countries, and Carter adds his signature as host and witness. Finally, they all stand and clasped hands as the cameras flash. Later that year, Sadat and Begin will share the Nobel Peace Prize, and President Carter will consider the Camp David Accords his most important achievement in office. But this historic agreement doesn't keep Carter in the White House.

Two years later, he loses the presidential election to Ronald Reagan in a landslide. Meanwhile, Monachan Begin clashes with hardliners in his party. They accuse him of betraying Israel by agreeing to a deal with Egypt that includes the eviction of settlers from the Sinai Peninsula. But it is Egypt and Anwar Sadat who face the most serious repercussions. By pursuing a separate peace with Israel, Egypt alienated many Arab governments and Palestinian leaders. At an emergency meeting of the Arab League in March 1979,

Egypt's membership is suspended, and the anger does anticipate. In 1981, Anwar Sadat will be shot and killed by Islamist militants, in part because of the peace deal with Israel. Today, the Middle East continues to dominate international affairs, and the search for a just peace in the region goes on, decades after the signing of the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978. Next on History Daily, September 18, 324C.E. Victory at the Battle of Chrysopoulos makes Constantine the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. From Noisor and Ayrship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazi.

Sound designed by Molly Bach. Music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by Samuel Hume, edited by William Simpson, managing producer Emily Burr. Executive producers are William Simpson for airship and Pascal Hughes for noisor.