The 1978 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat, of Egypt, and to Menachem Begin, of Israel, for the Camp David Agreement, which brought about a negotiated peace between Egypt and Israel. In her presentation speech, Aase Lionaes, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said: “We only know of one previous peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. This, as Israeli scholars have revealed, took place some 3,000 years ago; it was the peace concluded between King David’s son, wise King Solomon, and the Egyptian Pharaoh.” In his Nobel Lecture, Sadat reminded the audience that “the first recorded peace treaty in history was concluded more than three thousand years ago between Ramses the Great and Hattusilis, Prince of the Hittites, who resolved to establish ‘good peace and good brotherhood.'” In October 1981, President Sadat was murdered by persons who were opposed to his policy of reconciliation with Israel and his close links with the United States.
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel. Since 1901 it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” Over the next few months we’ll be introducing you to the past Nobel laureates, leading up to the award of the 2016 prize in October.
