Camp David Pact Should Survive Egypt Vote, But Revisions Likely

All of Egypt's presidential candidates have had to address the Camp David accords, the peace treaty with Israel that many Egyptians reject. But Ashraf Khalil writes that none of them has made it a central campaign issue, and that no matter who wins, the treaty will likely survive, though perhaps in modified form.
FILE PHOTO 20NOV77 - FOR RELEASE WITH BC-ISRAEL-ANNIVERSARY-CHRONOLOGY - Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (L) head to head with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1977 when Sadat made his historic visit to Jerusalem, becoming the first Arab leader to visit the Jewish state since its birth in 1948. Sadat and Begin went on to hold secret talks at Camp David with United States President Jimmy Carter and eventually signed a peace treaty in March 1979. REUTERS
Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (L) head to head with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1977. They went on to hold secret talks at Camp David with Jimmy Carter and eventually signed a peace treaty. - REUTERS

Egyptians are a domestically-obsessed population right now. It’s understandable given the state of the country 15 months after Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power.

But one of the few foreign policy issues that has featured prominently in the post-Mubarak public discourse has been the future of the Camp David Accords and the overall Egyptian-Israeli peace. None of the original 13 candidates in the still-ongoing Egyptian presidential race made the relationship with the Jewish State a central campaign platform. But every candidate has had to address it; and the things they’ve had to say could challenge Western assumptions that an Islamist-controlled government would be the biggest threat to peace between Israel and Egypt.

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