1977-1979: Egyptian-Israeli peace

ISRAEL TIMELINE

Overview

1948: The State of Israel is founded

1956: The Sinai campaign

1967: The Six-Day War

1973: October War

1977-1979: Egyptian-Israeli peace

1982: Lebanon invasion

1987: First Intifada

1993: Oslo agreement

2000: Second intifada

2005: Gaza withdrawal

2006: Lebanon war

2008: Israel now

A dramatic visit to Jerusalem by the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977 opened the doors to a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, the first and most important of the agreements between Israel and its neighbours.

Sadat's opposite number in Israel was Prime Minister Menachem Begin. From the right-wing Likud group and a former fighter against the British, Begin was determined to hold onto what he saw as the "Land of Israel" on the West Bank and which he called Judea and Samaria, after their biblical names.

However, Begin did not include the Sinai in his vision and proved to be a peacemaker with Egypt. In 1978, the US President Jimmy Carter invited Begin and Sadat to Camp David, near Washington, and there they made an agreement in principle that was followed up by a treaty in 1979.

Israel agreed to hand back to Egypt the whole of the Sinai, and Egypt agreed to recognise Israel. Israel's borders on one flank had at last been settled. And although the peace between the two countries has not been a warm one, it has held. However, the agreement did little for the Palestinians.