Skipping the Historical Truth

Sometimes, it's the little things.

In a letter-to-the-editor in today's NYTimes, by Marvin Bograd fo East Windsor, N.J., I found this:-

Historically, Menachem Begin candidly admitted that the agreement he signed with Egypt was due to the active involvement of Jimmy Carter. Without American influence, any chance for an agreement to end hostilities is nil.

This, of course, completely skips the historical truth that both Begin and Sadat purposefully began to forge an alliance that would bypass Carter's attempts to convene an international conference with Russia.

Carter, actually, was pulled into a different negotiations process than that which he wanted at first.

This is a reliable outline:

The international climate at the time of Begin's rise to power in May 1977 leaned strongly toward some type of superpower-sanctioned settlement to the Arab-Israeli dispute. New United States president Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Brezhnev both advocated a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement that would include autonomy for the Palestinians. On October 1, 1977, in preparation for a reconvened Geneva conference, the United States and the Soviet Union issued a joint statement committing themselves to a comprehensive settlement incorporating all parties concerned and all questions.

Nevertheless, the idea of a Geneva conference on the Middle East was actively opposed and eventually defeated by a constellation of Israeli, Egyptian, and powerful private American interests. Begin proclaimed that he would never accept the authority of an international forum to dictate how Israel should deal with its territory, especially because, aside from Washington, the Israelis would lack allies at such a meeting...Sadat also opposed a Geneva conference, seeing it as a way for Syria, supported by the Soviet Union, to gain leverage in an Arab-Israeli settlement. Sadat realized that if an international conference were held, Egypt's recovery of Sinai, which was his primary objective in dealing with Israel, would be secondary to the Palestinian issue and the return of the Golan Heights to Syria.

To stave off an international conference and to save Egypt's rapidly collapsing economy, Sadat made the boldest of diplomatic moves: he offered to address the Knesset. Begin consented, and in November 1977 Sadat made his historic journey to Jerusalem...