The Nobel Peace Prize 1978 Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin

The Nobel Peace Prize 1978 was awarded jointly to Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin
The award of the Prize to the President of Egypt, Anwar al-Sadat, and the Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, is moreover historical in the wider sense, in that 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.

It was in this part of the world that the cradle of our civilisation was to be found, more than 6,000 years ago. Here, communities with a high standard of culture, which were to exercise a profound influence on the development of human society in other parts of the world, grew up and flourished. Today, every single schoolchild knows from his or her history books that it was here that our written history first began; and adherents of three historically related religions - Islam, Judaism and Christianity have turned their gaze with unflagging devotion to that part of the world from which their religion sprang.