So the "Middle East Peace Treaty" has been signed. Newspapers and magazines carried this news in banner headlines with glorious photographs of "architect" Carter and the "responsible" leaders of Egypt and Israel who resolved their differences to bring "a long and lasting peace" to the troubled region. But the terms of this actual masterpiece are more interesting, as the outline below shows.

Sinai

Israel is to withdraw its forces from the Sinai Peninsula, over the next nine months. At the end of this period all Israeli troops are to be positioned east of a line running from El Arish to Ras Muhammad, the southern most tip of Sinai. Over a three year period, Israel will remove its military forces and settlers from all of Sinai. Most of the area will be demilitarised; Egypt can only station a single division on the peninsula and only within 31 miles of the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Suez. The UN will station troops along the Gulf of Aqaba and the eastern border of the Sinai. Within a nearly two mile-wide strip on the other side of the line, Israeli forces will be limited to four battalions. The two airfields that Israel built in the Sinai will be restricted to Egyptian civilian use.

Egyptian-Israeli Relations

One month after the Israeli forces have moved behind the El Arish — Ras Muhammed line, both countries will exchange ambassadors and establish normal diplomatic relations. Egypt will end its economic boycott of Israel and grant Israeli ship and cargoes the right of passage through the Suez Canal. Israel will be permitted to buy oil from the Sinai fields that will be returned to Egypt. If Israel runs short of oil during the next 15 years, the US hat promised to make up that difference. Egypt and Israel will open their borders to each other's citizens and will eventually sign agreements on other trade and cultural exchanges.

West Bank and Gaza

Negotiations on Palestinian self-rule on the West Bank and Gaza Strip will begin one month after the treaty is ratified and be completed within twelve months. Elections of Palestinian local councils, the first step towards self-government, are to be held promptly, though no date is specified. One month after self-rule is working, Israeli military forces on the West Bank and Gaza will be withdrawn behind Israel's 1949 borders. There will then begin a fice-year transitional period, during which the final status of the West Bank and Gaza will be negotiated. Still to be decided is the eventual fate of Israeli settlements and whether Israel will retain military outposts on the West Bank. If West Bank Palestinians refuse to participate in the talks. Begin agreed orally to let self-rule be established in Gaza. One of the trickiest issues, the status of predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, is not even mentioned in the treaty or Camp David agreements.

Looking at the agreement it seems that the only group who are not safeguarded in the proposals are the Palestinians, whose situation is scarcely improved under these proposals. What will happen to them in the future is left entirely to the whims of Israel. As they were not a party to the "peace agreement" it is hardly suprising that their interests have not been represented.