SPECIAL CONFERENCE SERIES CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS WASHINGTON, D.C. SEPTEMBER 17, 2003 Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope. THE CARTER CENTER STRIVES TO RELIEVE SUFFERING BY ADVANCING PEACE AND HEALTH WORLDWIDE; IT SEEKS TO PREVENT AND RESOLVE CONFLICTS, ENHANCE FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY, AND PROTECT AND PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS WORLDWIDE. CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS WASHINGTON, D.C. SEPTEMBER 17, 2003 ONE COPENHILL 453 FREEDOM PARKWAY ATLANTA, GA 30307 (404) 420-5185 FAX (404) 420-3862 WWW.CARTERCENTER.ORG JANUARY 2004 THE CARTER CENTER CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM TABLE OF CONTENTS Participants . .3 Morning Session . .4 Luncheon Address . .43 Question-and-Answer Session . .48 Afternoon Session . .51 All photos by William Fitz-Patrick 2 THE CARTER CENTER CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM THE CARTER CENTER CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SCHOLARS WASHINGTON, D.C. SEPTEMBER 17, 2003 Participants Title at the time of negotiations Jimmy Carter U.S. President Walter Mondale U.S. Vice President William Quandt U.S. National Security Council Elyakim Rubinstein Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel Zbigniew Brzezinski U.S. National Security Adviser to the President Aharon Barak Attorney General and Supreme Court Member-Designate, Israel Harold Saunders U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Hamilton Jordan U.S. Chief of Staff to the President Jody Powell U.S. Press Secretary to the President Samuel Lewis U.S. Ambassador to Israel Hermann Eilts U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Osama el-Baz Foreign Policy Adviser to the President of Egypt (by videoconference from Cairo) Boutros Boutros-Ghali Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Egypt (by recorded message from Paris via CNN) Master of Ceremonies Lee Hamilton Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (former Member of Congress) 3 THE CARTER CENTER CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM MORNING SESSION Lee Hamilton: Good morning to all of you. I think From the Israeli delegation, we’re honored to there’ll be a few more people coming in yet, but I think welcome Aharon Barak, who was attorney general we should begin. I'm Lee Hamilton. I’m the president and member-designate of the Supreme Court, and Ely of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Rubinstein, who was assistant director of the Ministry Scholars – not running for any office! of Foreign Affairs. President Carter: I know you’re not. From the Egyptian delegation, we are honored to welcome by videoconference Osama el-Baz, who was Lee Hamilton: I’m very, very pleased to welcome undersecretary of foreign affairs. We also hope to each of you this morning to this 25th anniversary retro- receive a videotaped message from Boutros Boutros- spective on the Camp David Accords. It’s an historic Ghali, who was minister of state for foreign affairs and, event sponsored by The Carter Center, and may I say of course, went on to become secretary-general of the how very pleased we have been to work with the execu- United Nations. We are very pleased that the Egyptian tive director, John Hardman, who is here, and other ambassador is with us today, Ambassador Fahmy, and members of the Carter Center staff in putting this we thank him for attending. together. Let me also acknowledge the presence of two very It is my very distinct pleasure to welcome to the Wilson remarkable and accomplished women who are with us Center Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States today. Rosalynn Carter and Joan Mondale are both and Nobel laureate, as well as a remarkably distinguished here. Please greet them. panel of men whose talent, hard work, and commitment to It is now my honor to say a few words of introduction peace made the Camp David Accords a reality. for President Jimmy Carter. President Carter has lived a I will introduce each of today’s participants, along with their title at the time of the negotiations. From the Carter administration, we are honored to welcome Walter Mondale, vice president of the United States; Zbig Brzezinski, national security adviser; Bill Quandt, staff member of the National Security Council; Hal Saunders, assistant secre- tary of state for Middle East affairs; Hermann Eilts, U.S. ambassador to Egypt; Sam Lewis, U.S. ambassa- dor to Israel; Hamilton Jordan, White House chief of staff; and Jody Powell, White House press secretary. Lee Hamilton and panel 4 THE CARTER CENTER CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM life of public service, characterized by extraordinary today is to look back on their achievement with a purpose achievement and a deep and abiding faith. He is known of looking forward, and let us begin by turning to one to all of us and to the world as a man of principle, intellect, of the great peacemakers of our time, President Jimmy determination, and integrity. Carter. The achievements of the Carter administration were President Carter: Thank you, Lee. So far, I’ve substantial indeed. The Camp David Accords, the enjoyed the program very much! (laughter) Panama Canal treaty, the Salt II treaty with the Soviet This is an exciting event for me. As a matter of fact, Union, the normalization of relations with China, a Rosalynn was at Camp David as long as anyone sitting comprehensive energy program, a bold environmental before you and participated intimately in every aspect record, the advancement of critical deregulation initia- of the negotiations, and I’m very glad that she’s here tives, the preservation of peace among the great powers, as well. and, of course, the placement of human rights at the I think it might be appropriate at the beginning to center of the United States foreign policy. Equally remember those who are not here. impressive is the unprecedented role that President After I left the White House in January of 1981, Carter has assumed in the years since his presidency: Anwar Sadat came down to Plains to visit with me and world peacemaker. President Carter has brought his Rosalynn, and then a few weeks later Menachem Begin faith and the power of reason, dialogue, and goodwill came down to visit with us. That same October, Sadat to Ethiopia, Korea, Bosnia, Sudan, Uganda, Cuba, and was assassinated, primarily because of his courageous Liberia, to name a few examples. He and Rosalynn stand at Camp David to bring peace to that region. Carter have traveled the world, monitoring elections We miss both of those men. and alleviating the suffering of disenfranchised, displaced, On the American side, we had 11 people who were and malnourished people everywhere. intimately involved in the discussions, nine of them in Simply put, his is the most successful post-presidency front of you. The key one I would say who’s missing is in the history of the United States. But the example of Cy Vance, a wonderful secretary of state and a great and President Carter’s life cannot be restricted to the label of dignified and wonderful statesman in all aspects of his president or former president: farmer, Sunday school life. Ambassador Roy Atherton is also missing from us. teacher, Navy man, nuclear engineer, state senator, governor, Moshe Dayan, in addition to Menachem Begin, is fly fisherman, conservationist, author, poet, negotiator, no longer with us. We have two Israelis here whom I’ll husband, father, friend. His actions have represented introduce in a few minutes. the best aspects of his deep beliefs and have spoken to Foreign Minister (Mohammed Ibrahim) Kamel the aspirations of all humankind. Thus, it was for the resigned in protest at the time of the Camp David totality of his life, as well as his public deeds, that he Accords. He refused to attend the ceremonies, but he received the well-deserved recognition of the 2002 was a very strong voice at Camp David, and I think Nobel Peace Prize. He has always believed, and still maybe he influenced the pace of progress even though believes, that peace is possible between and among all he was opposed to the final agreement. Hassan peoples. He is a man who sees solutions embedded in Touhami, he has also passed away since then. So we the deepest of problems, and because of this, he has have a good representation here this morning. substantially enlarged the peace of the world. I’ll introduce a little bit later Osama el-Baz, who Today, we gather to mark the momentous event that was Sadat’s key adviser, who can’t be here this morning shines a light for future generations of peacemakers. because he still is a key adviser for President Mubarak The Camp David Accords can be attributed to each of and is, on a daily basis, involved now in trying to recon- the men who are on this stage. We owe them much, cile some of the Palestinian dissident groups, including and we have much to learn from them. Our purpose Hamas and others, and getting them to support the 5 THE CARTER CENTER CAMP DAVID 25TH ANNIVERSARY FORUM peace process that’s undergoing an effort at this time. killed on both sides and where Israel was faced with the So we miss them, and I’ll be introducing the others later. most formidable military and political power, and that This morning, I’ll be presiding. I’m going to limit was Egypt next door. the original comments to five minutes, and we’ll then We had a chance in the early months of my own proceed to have kind of a roundtable discussion. And administration – I was inaugurated in early 1977 – to make a concerted effort to meet with all the leaders.