Camp David Doubletalk?

Was Egyptian President Anwar Sadat misled into signing the 1978 Camp David accords? Writing in the winter issue of Foreign Policy, Hermann Eilts, former U.S. Ambassador to Cairo and a participant in the Camp David summit, contends that Sadat set aside some of his misgivings partly because of two assurances he received from President Carter, neither of which was fulfilled. One was that the U.S. could "deliver" Saudi support for the agreement. Contends Eilts: "Carter believed--on what basis is unclear--that anything the Egyptians accepted other Arabs would have to accept." A few days before Camp David, Middle East experts warned Carter to the contrary. As it turned out, the Saudis joined other Arab states in condemning the accords.

The other assurance, which has surfaced before but in less detail, was that the Israelis had agreed to a long-term freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sadat was led to believe this would be confirmed in writing on the morning after the signing ceremony. The Israeli letter arrived on schedule, says Eilts, but it "differed shockingly" from Sadat's understanding and pledged only a three-month moratorium. An aide to Prime Minister Menachem Begin insisted when contacted by TIME last week that the three-month freeze was the only one discussed at Camp David.

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