This photograph shows Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski playing a game of chess at Camp David.
Carter invited Prime Minister Begin and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt to the secluded presidential retreat in Maryland to negotiate a peace settlement. Carter served as mediator.
After 12 days of negotiation, Begin and Sadat signed the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978, establishing a framework for peace in the Middle East and a framework for the conclusion of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Within the outline of these agreements, the two signatory countries would work out other issues leading to a peace treaty and later would involve other neighboring countries. The following day, President Carter addressed a joint session of Congress to explain the agreements and to reiterate active U.S. support for a continuing peace process.
