Summary
The two frameworks agreed at Camp David, 5-17 September 1978, by Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat for Egypt and Menachem Begin for Israel, witnessed by Jimmy Carter: a Framework for Peace in the Middle East, which makes Security Council Resolution 242 the agreed basis of settlement, sets out a three-stage process for the West Bank and Gaza — up to five years of transitional arrangements with full autonomy under an elected self-governing authority replacing the Israeli military government, then final-status negotiations that must recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian peoples and their just requirements — and applies associated principles to treaties with each neighbor; and a Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, which commits the two states to conclude a treaty within three months restoring full Egyptian sovereignty up to the internationally recognized border, withdrawing Israeli forces from the Sinai, fixing force-stationing limits and an interim withdrawal line, and establishing normal relations after the interim withdrawal (Camp David Accords: A Framework for Peace in the Middle East; Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel (17 September 1978), lines 1-186).
What the file is
The Avalon Project (Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School) reproduction of the two frameworks as one web page, © 2008. About 2,661 words of substantive text in the text copy, within 186 lines including Avalon navigation at the head and tail. The text copy is clean apart from one slip, “n order to achieve peace” for “In order…” in the Egypt-Israel section, and spells the Egyptian president’s first name “Muhammed” in both signature blocks. The file contains the two frameworks only: none of the letters adjunct to the Accords that other ingested sources discuss is reproduced.
Section by section
- Introduction (lines 1-186). Sadat and Begin met with Carter at Camp David from September 5 to September 17, 1978 and agreed the framework; other parties to the Arab-Israel conflict are invited to adhere to it.
- Preamble. The agreed basis for peaceful settlement is Security Council Resolution 242 in all its parts. After four wars in 30 years the Middle East does not enjoy peace; Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem, Begin’s reciprocal visit to Ismailia and both leaders’ proposals created an unprecedented opportunity for peace. Future negotiations between Israel and any neighbor prepared to negotiate are necessary to carry out Resolutions 242 and 338. Peace requires respect for every area state’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence and its right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries; security is enhanced by peace and by agreed arrangements such as demilitarized zones, limited armaments areas, early warning stations and international forces.
- Framework, purpose. A just, comprehensive and durable settlement through peace treaties based on Resolutions 242 and 338 in all their parts; the framework is intended as a basis for peace between Israel and each neighbor prepared to negotiate on this basis, not Egypt alone.
- West Bank and Gaza, stage structure. Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the representatives of the Palestinian people should participate in negotiations on the resolution of the Palestinian problem in all its aspects; negotiations proceed in three stages.
- Transitional arrangements (up to five years). The Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants to replace it, providing full autonomy to the inhabitants. Jordan is invited to join the negotiations on details. Egypt, Israel and Jordan agree the modalities; Egyptian and Jordanian delegations may include West Bank and Gaza Palestinians or other Palestinians as mutually agreed. The negotiated agreement defines the authority’s powers; Israeli armed forces withdraw and the remaining forces redeploy into specified security locations; a strong local police force is established, which may include Jordanian citizens, with Israeli and Jordanian joint patrols and control posts.
- Final status. The transitional period begins when the self-governing authority (administrative council) is inaugurated. Not later than the third year, negotiations among Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the elected representatives determine the final status of the West Bank and Gaza and conclude an Israel-Jordan peace treaty by the end of the transitional period, through two separate but related committees, on the basis of Resolution 242, resolving among other matters the location of boundaries and the nature of security arrangements; the solution must also recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian peoples and their just requirements. Palestinians participate in determining their own future through those negotiations, a vote of the elected representatives on the agreement, the representatives’ decision on how they shall govern themselves, and participation in the Israel-Jordan treaty committee.
- Security, displaced persons, refugees. A strong local police force composed of inhabitants maintains liaison with designated Israeli, Jordanian and Egyptian officers. A continuing committee of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the self-governing authority decides by agreement on modalities of admission of persons displaced from the West Bank and Gaza in 1967; Egypt and Israel work with other interested parties for a prompt, just and permanent implementation of the resolution of the refugee problem.
- Egypt-Israel. No resort to threat or use of force; disputes settled peacefully under Article 33 of the UN Charter. The parties negotiate in good faith with a goal of concluding a peace treaty within three months of the Framework’s signing; the second framework governs those negotiations.
- Associated Principles. The principles apply to treaties between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon: relationships normal to states at peace, full recognition, abolition of economic boycotts, due process protection for the other parties’ citizens, exploration of economic development, possible claims commissions, United States participation in implementation talks, and a request that the Security Council endorse the treaties and its permanent members underwrite them.
- Signatures (Framework for Peace). Menachem Begin for Israel, Muhammed Anwar al-Sadat for Egypt, witnessed by Jimmy Carter.
- Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty, opening agreements. Good-faith negotiation with a goal of a treaty within three months; negotiations under a United Nations flag at a mutually agreed location; all principles of Resolution 242 apply; treaty terms implemented between two and three years after signature unless otherwise agreed.
- Agreed matters (second framework). The full exercise of Egyptian sovereignty up to the internationally recognized border between Egypt and mandated Palestine; withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from the Sinai; Israeli-left airfields near al-Arish, Rafah, Ras en-Naqb and Sharm el-Sheikh for civilian purposes only; free passage for Israeli ships through the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal under the Constantinople Convention of 1888; the Strait of Tiran and Gulf of Aqaba as international waterways open to all nations for unimpeded and nonsuspendable freedom of navigation and overflight; a highway between the Sinai and Jordan near Eilat with guaranteed free and peaceful passage.
- Stationing of Forces (second framework). At most one Egyptian division within about 50 km east of the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal; only UN forces and lightly armed civil police west of the international border and the Gulf of Aqaba, in a zone 20 to 40 km wide; at most four Israeli infantry battalions and UN observers within 3 km east of the international border; at most three border patrol battalions supplementing the civil police elsewhere; exact demarcation during the peace negotiations; early warning stations permitted.
- UN forces and normal relations (second framework). UN forces in the Sinai area within about 20 km of the Mediterranean and adjacent to the border, and in the Sharm el-Sheikh area to insure passage through the Strait of Tiran, removable only with the Security Council’s approval by unanimous vote of the five permanent members. After the treaty is signed and the interim withdrawal complete: full recognition and diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, termination of boycotts and barriers, mutual due process protection.
- Interim Withdrawal (second framework). Between three and nine months after the treaty is signed, all Israeli forces withdraw east of a line from a point east of El-Arish to Ras Muhammad, its exact location by mutual agreement.
- Signatures (second framework). Muhammed Anwar al-Sadat for Egypt, Menachem Begin for Israel, witnessed by Jimmy Carter — the reverse order from the first framework’s block.
Key passages
- “In order to provide full autonomy to the inhabitants, under these arrangements the Israeli military government and its civilian administration will be withdrawn as soon as a self-governing authority has been freely elected by the inhabitants of these areas to replace the existing military government.” (Framework for Peace, West Bank and Gaza)
- “The solution from the negotiations must also recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian peoples and their just requirements.” (Framework for Peace, West Bank and Gaza)
- “the full exercise of Egyptian sovereignty up to the internationally recognized border between Egypt and mandated Palestine” (Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty, agreed matters)
Evidence the work relies on
A negotiated instrument, not an evidentiary work. It rests on Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, invoked as the agreed basis “in all its parts”, on the UN Charter (Articles 2 and 33) and on the Constantinople Convention of 1888 for Suez passage. It cites no reports, statistics or testimony.
Analysis
The Framework’s two halves operate differently. The Egypt-Israel half is specific and dated: a three-month treaty goal, force ceilings in divisions and battalions, distances in kilometres, and an interim line named by its endpoints. The West Bank and Gaza half is procedural: it names participants, stages and a five-year ceiling, but leaves the self-governing authority’s powers, the boundaries and the final status entirely to later negotiation, and gives the inhabitants representation through elected representatives rather than through any named Palestinian organization — the PLO is never mentioned, and Jordan, not a Palestinian body, is the Arab party to the final-status and treaty committees. Autonomy is promised to “the inhabitants”; sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza is nowhere allocated. Other ingested sources read the Accords against exactly this gap (see How it relates, below).
People, organizations, places and events
Camp David Accords, Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin, Jimmy Carter, West Bank, Gaza, Sinai Peninsula, Suez Canal, UN Security Council Resolution 242, UN Security Council Resolution 338
Concepts
How it relates to other sources
This is the primary text for the Camp David Accords page, previously held from critics and historians. The Question of Palestine argues the autonomy plan puts Palestinians under Israeli military authority indefinitely and notes the suggestion that autonomy led toward self-determination appears only in adjunct letters, not the agreements’ text — consistent with this file, which contains no letters and no self-determination language for the West Bank and Gaza, while recording Sadat’s and Begin’s signatures to “full autonomy to the inhabitants”. Said also notes Camp David did not mention settlements; this text likewise contains no settlement provision. Perceptions of Palestine records the divergent settlement-freeze understandings (throughout negotiations in the U.S. reading, three months in Begin’s) — a dispute the text itself cannot settle, since it contains no freeze clause. The second framework’s terms are carried into operative form by Treaty of Peace between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel (26 March 1979).
Open questions
- The file reproduces no adjunct letters, maps or annexes; the letters other sources discuss, and any settlement-freeze understanding, are outside this text.
- The framework does not define the self-governing authority’s powers, the final status, or who represents the Palestinian people beyond “the representatives of the Palestinian people” and the elected representatives of the inhabitants.
- The signature blocks spell the Egyptian president’s name “Muhammed Anwar al-Sadat”, as printed in the text copy.
Coverage
lines 1-186 of 186, read in full.