Following are excerpts of President Carter’s reply to President Anwar Sadat’s welcoming speech.
I have come to the Middle East to advance the cause of peace between Egypt and Israel. A treaty between these two great nations would be a beginning — not an end. It would bring us much closer to the broader goal we, seek, a real peace, a comprehensive peace, a peace that would reflect the legitimate needs of all those who have suffered so deeply during the last 30 years of conflict, enmity and war.
Our hope is to achieve an agreement which is honorable, just and which provides security for each of the negotiating parries, But above all, our purpose is to achieve a peace that will last.
If the promise of peace is to be fully realized for the people of Israel and Egypt, then others must be encouraged to join in the process of resolving differences through negotiations and accommodation. The United States will work with any and all parties who are committed to these principles of genuine peace and security.
As the relations among us grow stronger, we can all work more effectively to bring stability to the Middle East region as a whole. President Sadat has written and I quote, “No problem should ever be regarded as insuperable.”
MOST IMPORTANT CONDITION FOR PEACE
In recent months, we have overcome many problems that once seemed insurmountable. I pray that with God’s help, we may remove the remaining obstacles to the conclusion of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and continue the negotiations with great determination on other issues in accordance with the Camp David agreements.
The most important condition for success has already been met — the sincere conviction on both sides that peace is preferable to war, that differences can better be settled by the exercise of reason than by the spilling of blood.
President Sadat and I in the car together repledged ourselves not to disappoint those here, in Israel, among the Palestinians, among the countries also presently in a state of war who depend upon us and others to bring the long unrealized but deeply desired state of peace to this region.
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