1979- Peace Treaty Signed Between Israel and Egypt

Begin Shakes Sadat Hand After His Speech

In Washington, on March 26th 1979, a peace agreement was signed between Egypt and Israel, formally ending the state of war between the countries

The road to a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt was long. It started with the visit of Sadat to Jerusalem in 1977. But reaching a full peace agreement took time and effort. Most of the major issues between the two countries were resolved at a conference at Camp David that lasted 13 days between September 5th and 17th, 1978. Attended the Conference were President Carter, Sadat, and Prime Minister Begin, along with their top advisors. The conference was contentious, and if not for the perseverance of President Carter would no doubt have failed. One of the major sticking points was the unwillingness of Prime Minister Begin to remove Israeli settlements from Sinai and his fear of tying the agreement to the Palestinian issue. In the course of the conference, President Carter had taken the participants on a tour of the Gettysburg battlefield. Finally, on the last day of the conference agreement was reached. It was not a complete peace agreement but a framework agreement. That agreement had four main elements:

  • Complete Israeli withdrawal for Sinai.
  • Demilitarization of most of Sinai.
  • UN peacekeepers to ensure freedom of navigation.
  • Full normalization of relations between Israel and Egypt.

As a condition for removal of the settlement, Begin had stipulated that the Knesset would have to approve, which it did.


Turning the agreement in principle into a peace agreement proved more challenging than expected. It took five months of negotiations to reach a final deal. Those negotiations were handled on the Israeli side by Defense Minister Ezer Weizmann and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan. The final agreement was only reached after President Carter visited both Jerusalem and Cairo to work out the final details. The peace agreement included a separate memorandum between the United States and Israel. The signing ceremony took place on the White House Lawn on March 26, 1979.