Begin & Sadat: for the sake of peace - Europe Images International

Two hawks battling to end war. Everything opposed them: history, geography, religion, nationality, politics. Yet Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt defied belief and joined hands for the sake of peace. How did they even manage to exchange views? Constant war and hardline policies were tearing the region apart. But History demanded that an attempt be made. So they wrote to each other. For years. And with the help of other world leaders — especially US President Jimmy Carter and King Hussein of Jordan — the two men slowly began to chip away at the unimaginable task of reconciling their two countries. Then, despite strained meetings and broken agreements, a peace treaty was signed in 1979. Now, for the first time, the letters are revealed. The two leaders express their rage and longing for peace, their humour and hopes for a brighter future. The letters exchanged between these two heads of state, these two former enemies, these two new allies, laid the foundations for an imperfect — yet lasting — peace in the Middle East. With Yechiel Kadishai, Meir Rosenne, Dan Pattir, Yitzakh Navon (Israel); Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Nabil Elarabi, Abdul Raouf Elreedy, Ali Elsamman (Egypt); Samuel Lewis, Willam B.Quandt, Hal Saunders (United States).