ABSTRACT
It is curious how two of the three main actors in the Camp David peace epic deliberately avoided delving into the fascinating preliminaries to the venture which stunned the world. Anwar Sadat remained silent when questioned by his new Foreign Minister, Mohammed Ibrahim Kamal. The story that Sadat wanted to be known was short and simple: after the Romanian leader Nicolai Ceauşescu had confirmed that Menachem Begin was a strong man, Sadat decided to challenge the Israelis in the Knesset. Yet the journey might never have taken place if some Israelis, Moshe Dayan and Begin foremost among them, had not had the foresight and courage to investigate beforehand the possibility of an Egyptian-Israeli peace pact.
