Sadat and Begin win Noble Peace Prize

1978 - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The Norwegian Nobel committee said it had a dual purpose in presenting the prestigious prize to the two Middle East leaders, who for 11 months had been engaged in an often-difficult drive to end 30 years of Arab-Israeli hostility. Committee head Aase Lionaes said: “With the historic visit of Sadat to Jerusalem in 1977, a breach was forced in the psychological wall which for a whole generation has blocked understanding and human contact between Egypt and Israel.”