Forty-seven years ago today, on September 6, 1978 (August 4, 1978 lunar calendar), Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords. Egyptian President Sadat (left), US President Carter (center), and Israeli Prime Minister Begin (right) signed the Camp David Accords. The tripartite summit on the Middle East between Egypt, Israel, and the United States began on the afternoon of September 6, 1978 at Camp David in the United States. The meeting was held at the invitation of US President Carter. The tripartite joint meeting was attended by US President Carter, Egyptian President Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Begin. This is the first time a US president has participated in talks between Egypt and Israel on the Middle East issue. Sadat and Begin met twice in Jerusalem and Ismailia in November and December 1977. The Egyptian foreign minister and the Israeli foreign minister also held talks in January and July 1978 with the participation of the US Secretary of State. But with little progress in these talks due to Israel's insistence on refusing to withdraw from the Arab territories it occupied in 1967 and refusing to recognize the national rights of the Palestinian people, Carter dispatched Secretary of State Vance to the Middle East in early August and announced on August 8 that he had invited Sadat and Begin to the United States to join him for this summit meeting on the Middle East. After 11 days of meetings, on the evening of September 17, in the presence of Carter, Sadat and Begin signed two documents at the White House: "An Outline for Peace in the Middle East" and "An Outline for a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel". The preamble to the Outline for Peace in the Middle East states: "The mutually agreed basis for the peaceful settlement of the conflict between Israel and its neighbours is the full text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242". The Outline proposes a plan for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, providing for negotiations in three phases involving "representatives of Egypt, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian people" to resolve the "final status" of the two regions. The Outline for the Signing of a Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel states that Egypt and Israel will enter into negotiations "with the objective of concluding a peace treaty within three months of the signing of this Outline" and that "the provisions of this peace treaty shall be implemented between two and three years after the signing of the treaty" and that "the principles of UN Resolution 242 shall apply to the settlement of the dispute between Israel and Egypt". The parties agreed: "Egypt exercises full sovereignty within the internationally recognized borders between Egypt and Mandate Palestine"; "Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from Sinai". Camp David: Begin, Carter, Sadat