The Foreign Service Journal, September 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2018 81 a Six months later, on March 26, 1979, I put my raincoat down (á la Sir Walter Raleigh) on the damp White House lawn and sat with some staffers from the Egyp- tian embassy. We were there to witness the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty after long talks between the par- ties at Blair House, the Madison Hotel, back at Camp David and in Egypt. This was the high-water mark of Middle East peacemaking—and my diplomatic career—to that point. Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin (and later Jimmy Carter) were awarded Nobel Peace prizes. Sadat was killed three years later; and Begin fell into the Lebanon trap, lost his beloved Aliza and died in 1992. That same year I would stand in the backyard of the residence of our ambas- sador to Israel for the Fourth of July event, winding up my second tour as a U.S. Foreign Service officer. The Persian Gulf War had been won the year before, and the Labor Party had just beaten Likud. I found myself stand- ing between the victors, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to whom I offered congratulations and best of luck for the future. They and President Bill Clinton would give it their best. A quarter century later, the Middle East is still in turmoil, and the Palestin- A relaxed moment at Camp David: Moshe Dayan (center) with Susie Maltzmann, secretary to Israeli Ambassador to the United States Simcha Dinitz, and an Israeli security guard outside the Israeli delegation’s office/communications trailer. FRANK FINVER President Anwar Sadat, President Jimmy Carter and Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands happily at the White House ceremony where the Framework for Peace in the Middle East and the Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty Between Egypt and Israel were signed on Sept. 17, 1978. THE WHITE HOUSE ians are still waiting for their freedom. But at least major warfare between Israel and Egypt has been rendered obsolete, and waging peace was shown to be possible for a bright, shining moment on a mountaintop in Maryland 40 years ago. n The three leaders stand at attention during the U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps concert and drill team performance at the Camp David parade grounds on Sept. 7, 1978. THE WHITE HOUSE