Backstory of the Camp David Accords

In August 1978, President Jimmy Carter invited Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Camp David in order to negotiate a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace. The summit that began on September 5 and ended 13 days later produced two accords: "A Framework for Peace in the Middle East," which dealt with the West Bank and Gaza, and "A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel." While the first accord was never fully implemented, the second, signed on March 26, 1979, laid the basis for the very first peace treaty between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors. In writing this volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lawrence Wright sought to explain how and why this partial and incomplete peace was accomplished by the three leaders, "prejudiced by their backgrounds, hampered by domestic politics, and blinded by their beliefs."