Analysis Of Camp David Accords

In pursuing the Camp David Accords, Sadat was aiming to achieve certain strategic goals for Egypt, including a new alignment with America, improved bargaining power for Egypt in relation to Israel in the region, foreign capital for its new economic initiatives, and regional independence. While Sadat succeeded in achieving some of these goals with the accords, others he did not. I will examine the years leading up to, during, and after the Camp David accords, and how internal and external pressures pushed Sadat to accept that particular course on which he set Egypt. In particular, I will examine superpower relations, Egypt’s economic circumstances, and its relations with the Arab world as principal factors which led to Egypt’s bilateral agreement with Israel. In addition, I will examine the major political decisions of Sdat, and how they increased or decreased his bargaining power in Camp David, and the eventual terms. These include Sadat’s decision to break off relations with the Soviet Union, the start (and end) of the 1973 war with Israel, his trip to Jerusalem, and his behavior in negotiations with Israel. Finally, I will examine how Sadat’s political maneuvers have translated to Egypt’s international standing to this day.

Any study on Modern Egyptian history naturally begins with Nasser, Egypt’s first President after the Free Officers revolution in 1952. Nasser was the foremost proponent of pan-Arabism, an ideology that called for close ties between the Arab states, presumably under the leadership of Egypt, one of the most powerful states in the Middle East at the time. Compared to other states in the Arab World, Nasser’s Egypt was stable, militarily powerful, and independent of foreign influence. From this position of re...

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... as attractive to the west, his ability to challenge Israel for American influence never came to fruition, and he was never able to “block Israeli hegemony because of it.

While Egypt was able to orientate itself towards full alignment with America, a series of miscalculations and blunders, including ending relations with the Soviet Union and Arab world, and underestimating America’s commitment to Israel, resulted in Egypt never realizing the gains from Camp David that Sadat had hoped for. His assassination later on was the product of public discontent with what were increasingly viewed as poor terms on which peace was reached, and military discontent with how Sadat co-opted the October War for political purposes. So the Camp David treaties failed in achieving the goals that Egypt had publicly set out, and failed at achieving the goals that Sadat personally held.