CNN’s foremost anchor and host of "The Situation Room," Wolf Blitzer has not only reported on history, he actually influenced the peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt. Read that story and other insights on the Middle East in this exclusive interview with State of Business at the CNN studio in Washington.
Interviewers: Robinson College Dean H. Fenwick Huss and Director of Communications Gary W. McKillips
Q: You experienced the peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt in 1977 as a reporter for the Jerusalem Post. Can you talk about the mood then and whether anyone thought the agreement would stick?
A: I was covering the story on a day-to-day basis because Washington was deeply involved in what was happening. It was a very exciting time. After Jimmy Carter became president of the United States, his first visitor from the Middle East was the new prime minister of Israel, Itzhak Rabin. Anwar Sadat was the second.
During Sadat’s visit, I went to a news conference, and he took a question from me. I asked, "Why not have a direct dialogue between Israelis and Egyptians and start some human contact?" I suggested building confidence in each other with an exchange of academics, scientists or athletes—much like the ping-pong diplomacy the United States and China had practiced during the Nixon era. Sadat thought that was a good idea, but Egypt was still at war with Israel. He said, "My people are not yet ready for this."
After that time in April 1977, Israel held elections: Menachem Begin became prime minister and Moshe Dayan foreign minister. In November, Sadat stunned the world with an announcement: he’s going to Jerusalem to make peace with Israel. Asked why, he said, "When I was back in Washington, a reporter asked me about some human dialogue between Israelis and Egyptians. Since then, the idea has germinated in my mind, and I think it’s a good opportunity now." So I got a little publicity.
What no one knew at the time was Dayan had been meeting in Morocco in secret with one of Sadat’s closest confidants, King Hussein, a friend of Israel and a leader in the Arab world to organize the talks. Dayan would fly in on a private jet, disguised in a wig and big sunglasses to hide his eye patch. The Egyptians made it clear they were willing to talk peace only if the Israelis agreed to a complete withdrawal from Sinai, including Sharma Sheik, the oil fields the Israelis had developed in Sinai, and Yamit, an Israeli town in the northern part of Sinai where 2,000 settlers lived. Despite recent events, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen settlers uprooted.
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