Before he came into the picture, Israel and Egypt were locked in bitter political hostility. Their conflict was both territorial and ideological. Egypt viewed Israel's very existence as illegitimate and a threat to regional stability. They fought full-scale wars that claimed thousands of lives and, with each war, their mutual mistrust only hardened.
Jimmy Carter, the then U.S. President, who was a tireless and passionate peacemaker, resolved to do whatever he could to bring about peace between these two nations. In September 1978, Carter invited Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel to his presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, U.S. He ensured that the two leaders were cut off from the press, public pressure, and distractions. These two leaders hated each other so much that they could not tolerate being in the same room. Carter, acting as an intermediary, met with each of them separately, and conveyed each side’s needs and deep fears. He met them again and again, discussing over 23 drafts, and passing proposals back and forth.
When it looked like talks would collapse and the two leaders would walk out, Carter tried emotional appeals, reminding Sadat of their personal friendship and Begin by handing him a handwritten list of his grandchildren’s names and urging him to opt for peace at least for the sake of his grandchildren, the future generations. What was expected to be a brief 3-day meeting turned into 13 grueling days and nights of continuous negotiation until the historic Camp David Accords were signed by them on 17 September 1978.
Mahatma Gandhi was another such passionate and courageous peacemaker. He would undertake fasts unto death until the leaders of warring parties came and assured him they will maintain peace. Gandhi’s life and service, rooted in truth and nonviolence, continue to influence global movements for justice and peace today.
A recent event that underlined the dire need for peacemakers was the World Day of Prayer for Peace Meeting held in Assissi, Italy on 27 October 2026. This year it happened to be the 40th anniversary of the very first Day of Prayer for Peace, convened by Pope John Paul II in 1986.
One of those who spoke at the meeting was Katsuko Tanaka, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. On that fateful day - 6 August 1945 - when her city was bombed, she was a six-year-old girl, walking to school. She saw a tremendous flash, and her hair, neck, and arm being burnt before everything went dark. Her house was badly damaged, and her body was so burned that her mother did not recognize her. That night, Tanaka came close to dying, but she survived. Her experiences were so traumatic that she could not speak about them until her 70th birthday. The question that remained in her mind for years was why God let her survive. Now she understands the reason why she survived is to share her story wherever and whenever possible and plead for peace.
Archbishop Peter Michiaki Nakamura of Nagasaki, Japan had brought with him something that spoke eloquently about the need for disarmament and abolition of nuclear weapons. It was the head of a wooden Marian statue, which had no eyes. It had just two holes. It was found among the rubble at Nagasaki’s Urakami Cathedral Church after the bomb destroyed it.
Pope Leo, who could not attend the meeting as planned, sent a video message in which he said, “War can never be waged in the name of God. There is no such thing as a holy war: only peace is holy…. God's name can never be manipulated to try to justify war…We must rebuild peace everywhere, not prepare for more wars.”
What we need to understand is: ‘If I am a believer, I need to be a peacemaker. If I am, I will be counted among the blessed. For ‘blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.’
