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President Carter Originally Opposed Sadat's Visit to Israel

(Times of Israel) Itamar Rabinovich - Stuart (Stu) Eizenstat, White House chief advisor on domestic policy during Jimmy Carter's presidency, has written a comprehensive view and record of the Carter presidency in President Carter, The White House Years. In it he describes how Carter, whose skills were indispensable for the ultimate success of the Camp David summit, was upset in 1977 when he received the news of Sadat's decision to go to Jerusalem. Eizenstat offers us a vivid, telling description: "As I was heading down the narrow hallway toward the Oval Office, with the president going the other way, he pointedly addressed me: Stu, I think I am going to oppose Sadat's visit. It will be the end of any hope of a comprehensive peace and will result only at best in a bilateral between Israel and Egypt. I was astonished and said Mr. President, you can't do that. Sadat's visit will be historic and it will be catastrophic if you will be seen as opposing the first visit of an Arab combatant to Israel. He grumbled and kept walking." The writer, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S., is president of The Israel Institute in Washington.
2018-07-12 00:00:00
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