President Carter said today that neither Israeli Premier Menachem Begin nor Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made any “commitment” to him to “change their present positions” as a requirement to meet with him at Camp David Sept.5.
Anwering questions at a White House press conference, Carter said that in his invitations for the summit to Begin and Sadat he suggested that Egyptian and Israeli officials “lessen the vituperation” between the two countries and that both sides attempt to show more “flexibility.”
The President agreed with a reporter that the Camp David meeting was a “high risk gamble” for himself since, if it failed, he would have to personally share in the failure. He said that “I pray” and urge Americans and others to “pray” for the success of the summit conference because “failure could result in a new conflict in the Middle East which could affect the security” of the United States. Carter said he did not know the result of the conference but that from his talks many times with Begin and Sadat, “I am absolutely convinced that both men want peace.”
The President cautioned that he did not expect a peace treaty to result from the Camp David meeting but he did hope both sides would be able to explore areas of “compatability” and build from there to future negotiations.
Carter reiterated that the U.S. was an “interested” mediator in the talks. He noted that when Sadat went to Jerusalem last November and Begin to Ismailia in December it was “one of the happiest few weeks in my career as President” because he was not “involved” in the negotiations. But he said since then the situation has deteriorated.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
