1. Backchannel Message From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to the Ambassador to Israel (Lewis)1
WH81110. Please deliver immediately upon receipt.
August 8, 1978
To: Ambassador Samuel Lewis American Embassy Tel Aviv Israel
From: Zbigniew Brzezinski
Subject: Camp David Mid-East Meeting Announcement
Below follows text of announcement Jody Powell will make at 11:30 a.m. edt today.2 Please note minor changes in text:
“The President is pleased to announce that President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin have accepted an invitation to come to Camp David on September 5 for a meeting with the President to seek a framework for peace in the Mideast.
All of these leaders agree that there is no task more important than the search for peace. Secretary Vance has informed the President that both Prime Minister Begin and President Sadat have welcomed the meeting, and the President is gratified by their response.
[Page 2]Each of the three leaders will be accompanied by a small number of their principal advisors. No specific time has been set for the duration of the meeting.”
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Brzezinski Material, Subject File, Box 8, Backchannel Messages: Middle East: 2/78–11/80. Confidential; Sensitive; Flash. Printed from a copy that indicates the original was received in the White House Situation Room.↩
- Powell made the announcement to assembled reporters in the Briefing Room at the White House on August 8. The text as read by Powell is printed in Public Papers: Carter, 1978, Book II, p. 1393.↩