26 March 1979: Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty Signed
On March 26, 1979, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed a historic peace treaty on the White House lawn, ending 30 years of war between their nations and reshaping the Middle East.
The ceremony, presided over by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, culminated 16 months of intensive diplomacy following Sadat’s groundbreaking visit to Jerusalem in November 1977. The Camp David Accords, negotiated the previous September, had established the framework for peace.
Under the treaty, Israel agreed to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War. Egypt became the first Arab nation to officially recognize Israel, ending the state of war that had produced four major conflicts since Israel’s founding in 1948.
No more war, no more bloodshed, Begin declared. The agreement cost both leaders dearly. Sadat was denounced throughout the Arab world; two years later, he was assassinated by Islamic extremists. Yet the treaty endured, and Begin and Sadat shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
