This involved turning the West Bank and Gaza Strip into autonomous zones, in which Palestinians had full rights. Whilst this represented progress, it was a long, long way from being a full solution. As well as not addressing similar issues in other areas of Israeli occupation, such as the Golan Heights, it also did nothing to address Israel’s relations with Syria or Libya, nor the fact that some Arab states, such as Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, continued to openly call for the destruction of Israel.

Another consequence of these events was that Egypt became unpopular with the other Arab nations, which in effect saw it as having sold out to America and Israel. They also argued that Egypt had not done enough to help the Palestinians when negotiating the autonomy plan. There was therefore much less of a united Arab front against Israel than before.

So really the main peace that was created was between Israel and Egypt. Nevertheless, the talks did create a precedent of there being further rounds of talks in the future, such as the Oslo Accords of 1993 and the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty of 1994.

A Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel

This created the foundations for the March 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. Under this treaty Israel and Egypt agreed to recognise one another’s right to exist, and Israel withdrew its military forces and settlements from the Sinai area. In turn, Egypt agreed to leave the area de-militarized. Between these two countries, then, peace was achieved. In return for all this America gave lots of money to Egypt to subsidise its military.