Camp David Accords Quotes

“By coincidence the near-breakdown of the talks occurred on the same day that the news media was allowed its only visit. Reporters had been kept several miles away from Camp David and fed largely useless scraps of information by spokesmen. Now they bussed in for a mere forty-five minutes and seated in bleachers to witness an evening ceremony featuring the US Marine band.

Even from a distance, the press corps could tell that all three leaders looked glum, and the talks were not going well. Beyond that, reporters got nothing. After the press buses were loaded to leave, Jerry Rafshoon noticed that Barbara Walters was not aboard. He found her hiding in a stall in the ladies room. She'd hoped in vain to stay behind and find out what was happening.”
― Jonathan Alter, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life

“As they resumed discussions that evening, Carter was still angry. He told Begin he "won't beat around the bush." He would not have invited him to Camp David in the first place if he had known he wanted to stay in the occupied territories forever.

"What you want to do is make the West Bank part of Israel." Carter said coldly. "It looks like subterfuge." He wondered what had happened to the full autonomy Begin had pledged earlier to the Palestinians on the West Bank.

Begin's view was that autonomy was not sovereignty; and given the West Bank's very close proximity to Israel, his country needed to maintain ultimate control over all security questions. This would be the essential Israeli position for decades to come.”
― Jonathan Alter, His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life