My strongest recollection of Jimmy Carter comes from reading an account by one of the negotiators who had been with him as he worked on the Camp David Accords between Israel’s Menachem Begin and Egypt’s Anwar el-Sadat. I regret that I cannot recall in which book I read this. In those discussions, Begin held that Israel should not be obligated to give back the entire Sinai, but ought to retain a mere couple dozen square yards to symbolically demonstrate that an aggressor nation—as Egypt had been just prior to the Six Day War in 1967 when it lost the Sinai—should never be made completely whole.
Sadat, to his credit, recognized the wisdom and importance of this token gesture, and agreed to it. I admit, Sadat rose considerably in my esteem when I read this.
So, you may wonder, why didn’t Israel retain a few symbolic yards of land? Because Carter would not allow it. He exerted pressure on Israel to give back every square inch of the Sinai—and Begin eventually relented. Consider how inappropriate it was for an “impartial” mediator to dictate new terms, on an issue that both the negotiating parties had already accepted.
Although in public Carter praised Sadat and Begin equally, the author of that book noted that it was obvious Carter strongly disliked Begin, and he thought this was why Carter consistently leaned against Israel’s interests during those negotiations.
Of course, there is plenty of evidence that Carter had little regard for Israel as well, such as his 2008 condemnation of Israel’s attempts to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons. (This actually came a few weeks after Carter traveled to Syria for extensive talks with Hamas’ leader, Khalad Meshaal.) Or, Carter’s book which called Israel “apartheid” and hinted that the Arabs’ suicide bombings might be justified—issues which he eventually admitted were in error, and he apologized, although quite vaguely in my opinion.
In my mind, though, the principle behind keeping those few yards of land looms large, particularly nowadays.
Carter was not a great man, in my opinion.
