ABSTRACT
When President Sadat returned from his visit to the United States in February 1978, Washington began the first steps towards implementing the initial phases of the scenario agreed upon between the Egyptian and American sides at Camp David. President Jimmy Carter invited the Israeli Prime Minister to visit Washington. The visit was timed to take place at the beginning of March, but events in Lebanon caused it to be put off until 21 March. In inviting Begin, President Carter set out to influence the Israeli Premier and urge him to transform Israel’s negative attitude into a more positive one so as to allow a resumption of direct negotiations between Egypt and Israel. Egypt, as I have earlier pointed out, had adopted a firm position during the Camp David talks, and had emphasized that it would on no account resume negotiations with Israel unless the latter came forward with a more positive attitude, and the United States had pledged to do what it could to that effect.
