Room for Peace
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3-minute taste

The story in order

Nearly eighty years in six moments: from armistice lines, through two peace treaties, to the Gaza ceasefire.

For anyone who wants to see how one thing led to another, from 1949 to today.

First, a minute of archive

Sadat arrives in Israel – short AP archive clip

· AP Archive

President Sadat's arrival in Israel, 19 November 1977 – short archive clip

  1. Stop 2 of 14 on the full path

    1949: a ceasefire, not peace

    The first war ended in four armistice agreements mediated by the UN.12 The lines they drew, including the one later known as the Green Line, were not borders.

    Go to this stop: The 1949 Armistice Agreements

  2. Stop 3 of 14 on the full path

    1967: land for peace

    Security Council Resolution 242 set a formula: Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the war, in return for an end to the state of war and every state's right to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries.3 One word in it is disputed to this day.4

    Go to this stop: UN Security Council Resolution 242

  3. Stop 4 of 14 on the full path

    1977⁠–⁠1979: the visit and the peace

    Egypt's president landed in Israel and addressed the Knesset; no Arab leader had openly done so before.5 A year and a half later Israel signed its first peace treaty with an Arab state.6

    Go to this stop: Sadat's Visit to Jerusalem

  4. Stop 6 of 14 on the full path

    1991⁠–⁠1994: everyone in one room

    In Madrid, Israel, its neighbours and Palestinian representatives sat at one table for the first time.7 From there grew mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO in 19938 and peace with Jordan in 1994.9

    Go to this stop: The Madrid Conference

  5. Stop 10 of 14 on the full path

    2000: the summit that ended without a deal

    At Camp David, Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat tried, with President Clinton, to end the conflict.10 The summit ended without an agreement,11 and each side explains why differently.

    Go to this stop: The Camp David Summit, 2000

  6. Stop 13 of 14 on the full path

    From 2002 to today

    In 2002 the Arab League offered normal relations in return for withdrawal to the 1967 lines, a Palestinian state and an agreed solution for the refugees.12 In 2020 Israel established open relations with four Arab states.13 In October 2025 a Gaza ceasefire took effect, and the hostages came home.14

    Go to this stop: The Abraham Accords – the framework declaration

What was said

Anwar Sadat

I come to you today on solid ground, to shape a new life, to establish peace.

Address to the Knesset, Jerusalem, 20 November 1977

Source and status of the wording

Sadat spoke in Arabic. In the Arabic edition the sentence is given in his own words, as quoted by Al-Ahram's news gate (19 November 2014). The Arabic says literally "on two firm feet"; "on solid ground" is the wording of the English translation published by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as reproduced by the Jewish Virtual Library.

Quote source: Jewish Virtual Library, reproducing Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The full path

About 61 minutes · 14 stops

Start at the first stop
  1. Timeline of the peace process
  2. The 1949 Armistice Agreements
  3. UN Security Council Resolution 242
  4. Sadat's Visit to Jerusalem
  5. Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty
  6. The Madrid Conference
  7. Oslo I – the Declaration of Principles
  8. Oslo: the breakthrough, and what went wrong on the way
  9. Israel–Jordan Peace Treaty
  10. The Camp David Summit, 2000
  11. Tried, and tried again: the attempts that paved the road
  12. Arab Peace Initiative
  13. The Abraham Accords – the framework declaration
  14. The Gaza ceasefire and the US 20-point plan

Sources

You do not have to agree with us. That is what the sources are for: open them, compare and check for yourself.

Show all sources (14)Hide the sources

Cited on this page

  1. Egyptian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, February 24, 1949Primary Avalon Project, Yale Law School24 February 1949
  2. Jordanian-Israeli General Armistice Agreement, April 3, 1949Primary Avalon Project, Yale Law School3 April 1949
  3. Security Council resolution 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 (S/RES/242)Primary United Nations (UNISPAL)22 November 1967
  4. Resolution 242, 22 November 1967 (Overall Chronology)Reference Institute for Palestine Studies – Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question (PalQuest)
  5. President Anwar Sadat's Address to the Israeli Knesset, 20 November 1977Primary ibiblio (mirror of the speech text)20 November 1977
  6. Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt, March 26, 1979Primary Avalon Project, Yale Law School26 March 1979
  7. The Madrid Conference, 1991Official archive U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
  8. Israel–PLO Mutual Recognition, Letters and SpeechesPrimary United Nations Peacemaker9 September 1993
  9. Treaty of Peace between the State of Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 26 October 1994Primary United Nations (UNISPAL)26 October 1994
  10. The Oslo Accords and the Arab-Israeli Peace ProcessOfficial archive U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian
  11. Trilateral Statement on the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp DavidPrimary The White House (Clinton Presidential archive)25 July 2000
  12. Arab Peace Initiative, Beirut summit — UN document A/56/1026–S/2002/932Primary United Nations (UNISPAL)28 March 2002
  13. Joint Statement by President Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi on the Full Normalization of Relations Between Israel and the United Arab EmiratesPrimary The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara13 August 2020
  14. A Guide to Trump's Twenty-Point Gaza Peace DealResearch Council on Foreign Relations24 February 2026