ABSTRACT
On the morning of the following day, Sadat met Carter privately in “Aspen”. The meeting lasted nearly an hour, and upon his return, Ghali and I paid him a visit. He was in high spirits, and informed us that he had conveyed our project, “The Framework of Peace”, to Carter, who had listened attentively without comment. Sadat had pointed out to him that the project included security measures with regard to the West Bank and Gaza which went beyond those set forth in the project submitted in Leeds. He (Sadat) hoped Begin would not raise any objections. The US President had told him he would be meeting with the Israeli Premier privately, after which the three could hold a meeting in the afternoon. Carter had likewise indicated that the Camp David Conference was of the utmost importance, adding that its failure might be taken to mean that any resumption of direct negotiations stood little chance of success. This would complicate matters and a unique opportunity to achieve a settlement would have been thrown away. Such a failure, moreover (Carter continued) would affect his present position and his political future. Sadat had answered, saying that were the Conference to fail, he (Carter) would not be the cause, but Begin, if the latter persisted in his obduracy and intransigence.
