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INTERVIEW: JIMMY CARTER DISCUSSES THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CAMP DAVID ACCORDS
Morning Edition: September 17, 2003
Carter Reflects on Camp David Accords
BOB EDWARDS, host:
Twenty-five years ago today, Egypt and Israel signed a framework for peace in the Middle East known as the Camp David Accords. President Jimmy Carter mediated between Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat. The 12 days of negotiations took place at Camp David, the presidential retreat outside of Washington, DC.
And today in Washington, former President Carter will be host to members of the US-Egyptian and Israeli delegations to Camp David. I spoke with the former president earlier this week as he prepared for that event. He was at his home in Plains, Georgia. Carter said the Camp David agreement holds lessons for the Middle East today.
Former President JIMMY CARTER: It proves that with good faith and some courage on both sides and with strong support and encouragement from the United States of America, particularly at the highest level, that very difficult problems in the Middle East can be overcome, that Israel and its neighbors can negotiate successfully an agreement for peace that's mutually beneficial and that it can last for a long time. As a matter of fact, the treaty that we worked out between Israel and Egypt, not a single word of it has ever been violated on either side.
EDWARDS: And yet now it's Israel and the Palestinians and that seems so much more difficult.
Mr. CARTER: And as a matter of fact at Camp David 25 years ago, Begin and Sadat and I spent most of our time talking about things that would affect directly the Palestinians; notably, whether or not the United Nations' Resolution 242 would be honored which calls for Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank in Gaza. And we agreed that this would be done, that the Palestinians would be given full autonomy--the word full was one that was put forward repeatedly by Prime Minister Begin. An interesting thing was that after this was concluded under very difficult circumstances it was submitted to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and the members approved it by an 85 percent vote. So it was something that was done not just by three leaders in isolation and their assistants, but also approved publicly by the entire Israeli government.
EDWARDS: Do you see any way out of this spiral of violence?
Mr. CARTER: Well, just this morning in preparation for my talk with you, I reread the so-called `road map' for peace that's been put forward by the United States and Russia and Great Britain and so forth. That's very promising. The problem is that we put it forward as a nice gesture, but when I just began reading the first two or three paragraphs, I saw that Israel has rejected about 12 of the key issues the Palestinians have not adopted either. And so far, the United States hasn't pursued it with any real aggressiveness.
EDWARDS: Is the `road map' done for, you think?
Mr. CARTER: Well, I hope not. It's never hopeless. One of the bottom lines that we pursued at Camp David, despite the fact that we'd had four wars in 25 years, was that both sides and all their neighbors really want peace. And I think that Israel can have peace. I think the entire world would recognize Israel's right to exist. I think the Palestinians would go back to non-violence which they did 25 years ago and subsequently even with the Oslo agreements. But the key issue is whether the United Nations resolutions will be honored, and those are the kinds of things that can only be done with very strong influence from the United States and other key countries and I'd say some courage on the part of leaders on both sides. But what we're going to do in the next day or two in commemorating the anniversary of the Camp David Accords is look back at what we did then and try to ascertain how it really applies now and might be applicable in the future.
EDWARDS: The focus this week is on a single individual. Is Yasser Arafat the main obstacle to peace as the US and Israeli governments describe him?
Mr. CARTER: No, I don't think so. In the last few years as you know, Arafat has been almost completely isolated in one small building and hasn't been really in charge of things on the ground. But I think it's just kind of an excuse to blame everything on Arafat who has practically no authority even among his own people.
EDWARDS: What would happen if Israel carried out its threat to expel him from the West Bank?
Mr. CARTER: Well, this is specifically prohibited in the `road map' that there would be any expelling of people from the West Bank in Gaza. I'm sure that when that sentence was put in the `road map' by President Bush and others that they weren't thinking about Arafat. So this would be another very blatant violation of the principles of the `road map.'
EDWARDS: What's your assessment of Ariel Sharon?
Mr. CARTER: When I was at Camp David negotiating with Prime Minister Begin, I heard two or three years later that Begin did make a private telephone call to Ariel Sharon who encouraged Begin to accept the difficult proposals that I put forward. Later when I went over to try to conclude the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, Ariel Sharon was one of the members of the Cabinet who did approve my proposals on the peace treaty, even when Prime Minister Begin was holding out for additional concessions. So, in those days, Sharon was in favor of peace. I think the main issue is whether or not Israel insists upon the colonizing of the West Bank in Gaza or whether they will withdraw from the West Bank in Gaza as is required by United Nations resolutions and as is required also under the so-called `road map' for peace.
EDWARDS: Is there something specific President Bush could be doing now to salvage the peace process or is it out of his hands?
Mr. CARTER: Well, that depends on how assiduously the president of the United States, no matter who it is, is willing to devote himself to that very difficult issue and put his prestige on the line and put his influence on the line. I found out from Camp David, as did all my associates there, that only I, personally, since I was the president, could exert the influence and make the concessions and promises from one side to another to bring the two sides into a complete agreement. But I think nowadays there are many other very troubling and important issues on the desk in the Oval Office, and I don't envision anytime soon President Bush putting the peace process at the top of his agenda.
EDWARDS: Last week, candidate Howard Dean said that there should be more even-handed American policy in the Middle East. Senator Lieberman and others went after Dean saying he was threatening to undermine long-standing US relations with Israel. What do you make of that?
Mr. CARTER: Howard Dean was absolutely right. You know, the word even-handed may not have been a good choice but the United States has to take a balanced position between Israel and the Palestinian or other adversaries of Israel, that you can't just have the United States and Israel forming a coalition as though they were in opposition to the other side.
EDWARDS: Former President Jimmy Carter on the 25th anniversary of the Camp David Accords. More of our conversation, including President Carter's views on the war in Iraq and continuing crisis in North Korea, is at npr.org.
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