Almost from the moment of his inauguration, President Jimmy Carter focused on how to rejuvenate the languishing Middle East peace process with a framework that would exchange land for a lasting peace.

With the Camp David Accords of 1978, he succeeded in moving Israel and Egypt in that direction. But implementation of the remainder of the framework outlined in the Accords forged between President Anwar Sadat and Prime Minister Menachem Begin eluded him, as it has every president since.

During Shabbat services, Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat will join us to offer an insider’s account of Carter’s philosophy of peacemaking, his triumphs and failures in dealing with the Middle East and the lessons they offer for this incredibly challenging current moment. 

Ambassador Eizenstat, who delivered a eulogy at President Carter’s recent funeral, worked on both of Carter’s presidential campaigns and became his Chief Domestic Policy Advisor. He went on to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Under Secretary of Commerce and Ambassador to the European Union under President Clinton. An attorney who has spent decades fighting for restitution to Holocaust survivors, he worked on those issues for five administrations. His book The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements That Changed the World, with introductions by Henry Kissinger and James Baker, addresses Carter’s work to promote peace in the Middle East and beyond.