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INBRIEF
PERSEVERING
TOPEACE
by
Stanley R. Rader
J immy Carter has snatched victory
from the jaws of defeat! As of this
writing, the American President ,
Menachem Begin, and Anwar Sadat
together appear to have taken the
biggest step toward peace in modero
Middle Eastern history.
All three of these statesmen are
deeply devoted to their respective
faiths. President Carter is an avowed
born-again Christian; Mr. Begin is a
staunch believer in the Jewish faith;
President Sadat is a devout Muslim.
All three are noted for their courage
and faith. All three have undertaken
grave risks to their own political fu–
tures from the very inception of these
prolonged negotiations over a period
of many, many months. But their
courage appears to have paid off in a
handsome reward for perhaps all of
mankind in spite of the great risks
they still must face in the future.
Let's face it.
lf
Mr. Carter's peace
mission had utterly failed , the políti–
ca! fallout at borne would have been
incalculable.
If
he had been denied
the triumph and come borne empty–
handed, his Republican opponents
would have received a great boost in
their political fortunes. Not knowing
the end result, it took a great deal of
courage for him to perhaps stake his
political future on the recent peace
talks in Palestine.
Prime Minister Begin has been the
IN ACCORD-President Carter, flanked by former adversaries Anwar Sadat and
Menachem Begin, announces agreement on terms ol Egyptian·lsrae/1 peace treaty.
20
proverbial " man on the spot." He has
been the natural scapegoat for fail–
ure from the onset of his government.
But he also is aman of great courage.
Mr. Begin placed the life of his gov–
ernment on the line in the cabinet
vote on an Egyptian-1sraeli peace
pact. And even in the presence of
President Carter he has experienced
the humiliation of a cruel heckling
from the floor of the Knesset by
members of his own Lilcud Party.
1
can only repeat what I have twice
written in previous issues of
The
Plaín Truth:
"However, because of
his political posture in the past , and
his genuine credentials as a hawk, he
[Mr. Begin] stands, in this writer 's
view, as the one man who might be
able to make the kind of a deal with
the Arab nations that would bring
about a return of much of the occu–
pied territory in return for the Arab
nations ' recognition of Israel as a
state, which recognition alone is the
only real basis for peace in the
arca ... " (December 1977, January
1979). In the latter issue 1 also wrote
that "Prime Minister Begin may
eventually enter history as the one
man who finally brought the state of
Israel an honorable peace with secu–
rity."
President Anwar Sadat is no
stranger to courage either! He knows
there is and has been strong opposi–
tion in the whole Arab world to his
peace initiatives with Israel. Many of
his fellow Arabs opposed bis epochal
journey to Jerusalem to address the
Israelí parliament; they fought Camp
David; they expressed opposition to
his recent peace efforts in Palestine
in conjunction with President Carter
and Prime Minister Begin.
And he also knows very well that
he does
no t
have unanimous support
even in his own cabinet and pa rlia–
ment. This is a high-risk business for
political leaders. They must enjoy at
least a modicum of success in their
peace efforts just to ensure their own
!
political survival.
.&
Anwar Sadat has been tied to vari–
j
ous military treaties with just about
1
every Arab country in the Mideas t.
i
Not a single one of these countries is
~
even remotely satisfied with the pro–
~
~
posed solutions to the Palestinian
~
problem. None can perceive the ben-
The
PLAIN TRUTH June·July 1979