STEP BY STEP - Stanley R Rader - January 1979

Stanley R Rader

The Times (London) hailed the talks at Camp David as "a big step toward peace." And indeed they were! But it must never be forgotten that they were only one step in an agonizing step-by-step process on the long road to peace in the Middle East. Much has been made of the so-called "intransigence" of Menachem Begin : The world press has viewed him as the "main obstacle" to peace. Few men in the free world have such a reputation for inflexibility. As one major American newsweekly declared in anticipation of the results at Camp David: "It will depend in large part on the stern and cantankerous figure of Menachem Begin- and on whether any mixture of pressure and persuasion can induce the onetime guerrilla leader to lessen his intransigency and make at least some concessions for the sake of a settlement." Had Camp David failed , the Israeli prime minister undoubtedly would have been saddled with the lion's share of the blame. No other Israeli leader has been simultaneously attacked on so many fronts. - Information Supplied By: Herbert W Armstrong Library