Children bringing Peace

President Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin gathered in Camp David in 1978 to discuss peace. President Anwar Sadat approved the peace proposal but it was rejected by the Israeli Prime Minister Begin. There was a stalemate. The three, by now tired and emotionally drained, were about to depart without any peace accord. As President Carter and Prime Minister Begin were about to depart they remembered that they had earlier agreed to sign photographs for each other’s families. They met on the front porch of Prime Minister Begin’s cabin for the signing. President Carter asked for the name of the children to make the signing more personal and Prime Minister Begin reciprocated. Then President Carter decided to show the photographs of his grandchildren describing the personality of each; Prime Minister Begin did likewise. As they looked at the pictures tears filled their eyes. What type of world would their grandchildren grow up in? Prime Minister Begin returned to his cabin and re-emerged after five minutes asking to look at the peace proposal once again.

I found this story in Preaching to a Postmodern World: A Guide to Reaching Twenty-first Century Listeners by Graham Johnston (pages 143-144) which cites President Carter’s Keeping Faith as the source.