Egypt's Road to Jerusalem: A Diplomat's Story of the Struggle for Peace in the Middle East

As Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Boutros-Ghali was part of the circle of advisers that accompanied Anwar Sadat to Jerusalem and then on to Camp David and the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. During those years Boutros-Ghali kept a daily diary, from which this book is largely drawn. As such, it does not purport to be a complete history, but rather the perspective of one who was close to the key players but rarely a decision- maker in his own right. One of the many pleasures of the book is the finely drawn portraits of the diverse characters who participated in the peace talks, including Menachem Begin and Moshe Dayan on the Israeli side, and, most importantly, Sadat himself. There are few big surprises in this story, but the inner workings of the Egyptian team are discreetly shown, often through the eyes of a frustrated Boutros-Ghali who was not privy to all of Sadat's thinking. Apart from the main theme, there are marvelous portraits of several African leaders whom the Egyptian diplomat tried to convince to support Camp David. This fine book ends with a moving account of Boutros-Ghali learning of Sadat's assassination -- the same fate that his own grandfather met and to whom he dedicates the volume.