327. Editorial Note
On January 7, 1980, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin arrived in Egypt for a four-day official visit to the country. The centerpiece of the visit was Begin’s summit meeting with Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat in the Egyptian city of Aswan, the ninth since Sadat’s 1977 trip to Jerusalem. The two leaders held three substantive conversations spread over two days. At the first, the two leaders agreed to proceed with the normalization of relations, including the exchange of ambassadors, the establishment of an air transport link between the two countries, as well as the opening of telephone lines and postal services. The second meeting was concerned with the current state of the autonomy negotiations, with considerable differences emerging over the interpretation of the proposed Palestinian self-governing authority and the future status of Jerusalem. Moreover, no agreement to increase the pace of negotiations was reached. Sadat and Begin also discussed the impact of political developments in Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, upon the Middle East, agreeing that these developments posed dangers for the region. Although it was not discussed, the Egyptian Minister of Defense, Kamal Hassan Ali, had earlier stated in an interview with The Washington Post, that the United States would be allowed to use Egyptian military facilities on a “temporary basis to defend any Arab state,” but would not allow any permanent U.S. bases in his country. (“Egypt Offers Bases for Limited U.S. Use,” The Washington Post, January 8, 1980, page A14)
Upon his return to Israel, Begin telephoned President Jimmy Carter to provide the President with his impressions of the summit. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the two leaders spoke from 10:06 a.m. to 10:08 a.m. and from 10:47 a.m. to 10:58 a.m. on January 10. (Carter Library, Presidential Materials) Although no memorandum of conversation of this meeting has been found, Carter’s handwritten notes from this telephone conversation are in the Carter Library, Plains File, President’s Personal Foreign Affairs File, Box 2, Israel, 4/79–11/81. Begin provided Ambassador to Israel Samuel W. Lewis a more substantial briefing in a meeting on January 14, in which Begin conveyed his disappointment that no agreement on “moving the negotiations ahead” had been made, but stated that he and Sadat had a “common language” on strategic issues. Lewis provided a summary of this meeting to the Department of State in telegram 846 from Tel Aviv, January 14. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P880145–0625) Similarly, Sadat provided the Ambassador to Egypt, Alfred L. Atherton, Jr., with his impressions of the Aswan summit in a meeting between them on January 12. During the course of the meeting, Sadat stated that he had told Begin that Egypt and Israel [Page 1066] “needed to help the U.S. prove that it is the ‘first superpower’ and to restore the balance” in the Middle East, a statement, Atherton assessed, that reflected “Sadat’s continued preoccupation with the strategic situation in the area, the Soviet threat and the need for U.S. to establish a position of strength.” In connection with this, Sadat also observed that this “new strategic situation and Egypt’s role should be reflected in an entirely new approach to Egyptian arms requests” in Washington. Atherton transmitted a summary of his meeting to Washington in telegram 701 from Cairo,
January 12. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P870047–1082) He also provided a brief addendum to this summary in telegram 737 from Cairo, January 13. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P870047–1093)