The Foreign Service Journal, September 2018

80 SEPTEMBER 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL “They asked me to check on you,” I answered. “You’re a bloody Yank, huh?” he said. “Hand me that goddamned bottle of cognac. Only thing that helps with this cold!” Later in the week, I heard that Weiz- mann made quite a scene while leaving a screening of the graphic World War II film “Patton.” He had dramatically launched his crutches (he had been in a car acci- dent in Israel) into the bushes, exclaim- ing: “That [carnage of war] is what we can expect if we don’t reach an agreement!” a After a few days of running errands, reading, playing basketball with the Marines, I drove a site advance team 45 minutes down the hill to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We reviewed the battle- field site for a VIP visit the following day, which President Carter conducted with minimal assistance from a Park Ranger. Even on the weekend, it was business as usual for the delegations; but tension was palpable as rumors circulated on Saturday, Sept. 16, that Sadat was packing his bags. Late that evening, I strolled up to our parking area, where some col- leagues sat grim-faced in a semicircle around a TV placed under the stars on this warm night. To my delight, “Saturday Night Live” was on, and Garrett Morris, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were masterfully por- traying Sadat, Carter and Begin. Suddenly Carter’s top aides, Hamilton Jordan and Jody Powell, approached, and I briskly fetched more chairs and a couple of Budweisers. Soon they, too, were guffawing with delight. Frank Finver, in 1978, stands in front of the Camp David sign at the entryway to the mountain facility. Sunday was eerily quiet, with failure and despair in the air. Time had flown by, but now seemed stopped; and Camp David seemed confining. That, however, changed instantly late Sunday with a burst of activity. a “Frank, we’re leaving. Go check Birch in case Begin forgot something.” I saw that Prime Minister Begin had left his hat, coat and some notes (but not my book). I gathered his stuff and began to run toward a large Marine helicopter preparing to lift off. Klieg lights burst on as I neared the spot, blinding me and casting Begin and company in silhouettes, from which the PM spoke: “Thank you. Will you be join- ing us in the helicopter [ride to the White House]?” “No, he’ll meet us there,” someone answered for me. I was soon flying down the mountain and toward D.C. in my embassy sedan, the Israeli security chief snoring next to me. The signing ceremony was broadcast on the radio. “The first document that we will sign is titled ‘A Framework for Peace in the Middle East,’” President Carter intoned. “[It] is quite comprehensive in nature, encompassing a framework by which Israel can later negotiate peace treaties between herself and Lebanon, Syria, Jor- dan ... (and) provides for the realization of the hopes and dreams of the people who live in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and will assure Israel peace in the gen- erations ahead.” President Sadat spoke of the “spirit of Camp David,” and Prime Minister Begin called it unprecedented, “a unique conference, perhaps one of the most important since the Vienna Conference in the 19th century. MOSHE MILNER