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An historic day for peace – The leaders of Israel and Egypt decided Sunday night to go ahead with signing their historic peace treaty after apparently settling the last outstanding issue. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat reached the decision during nearly two hours of talks at Egypt’s embassy on the eve of the scheduled 2 pm EST Monday signing ceremony. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who met later with Begin at his hotel, said the two Middle East leaders apparently solved the final unsettled issue – the wording of Egypt’s commitment to sell oil to Israel.
In the face of threats from militant Arab foes, Begin and Sadat were protected by what Secret Service agents described as unprecedented security precautions. The Israeli prime minister flew from New York to Washington Sunday afternoon to participate in what he described as the – great turning point in the Middle East. Let it be the beginning of a new era in the Middle East, the cradle of human civilization, Begin said on arrival at Andrews’ Air Force Base. Sadat, who arrived in Washington 22 hours before, thanked President Carter for guiding Israel and Egypt through six months of troubled talks to the historic signing ceremony on the front lawn of the White House. Let us pray to God Almighty to fulfill the promise of peace, Sadat said as he landed at Andrews Air Force Base.
Meanwhile, there was other news: The Organization Of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which controls three-fifths of the free world’s oil production, met today in Geneva to consider what to do about the pricing chaos which has swept the world’s oil markets since the Iranian revolution. Officially, the meeting was consultative only not a pricing conference. But with small quantities of surplus oil fetching no to 50 per cent over the current OPEC prices, there was growing pressure on the organisation to let the 13 member states share the profits.
And The U.S. government was trying to stop a magazine from publishing an article on how to build a hydrogen bomb. The government believed the article intended for publication in The Progressive, a Madison, Wis., magazine, was a threat to the safety of the United States because it contained top-secret information. The Progressive’s editors believed the First Amendment of the Constitution guaranteed their right to publish the article. The amendment dealt with freedom of speech.
The two sides were returning to court to continue their fight. The editors said the deadline for deciding if the article could be used in the May issue was March 26th.
And along with the promise of Peace in the Middle East, that’s just a little of what went on, this historic March 26, 1979 as presented by The CBS World News Roundup.
