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

This curiously appealing book, based on the diary Boutros-Ghali kept between 1979 and 1981, when he was Egypt's minister of state for foreign affairs, is by turns frankly personal and professionally guarded. Either way, it provides a behind-the-scenes portrait of a modern diplomat at work. Beginning with Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat's dramatic visit to Israel in 1977 and progressing through the Camp David talks (Boutros-Ghali was present for both events), the book ends with the assassination of Sadat at a parade Boutros-Ghali did not attend. At its slowest, this account sticks too closely to its original diary format, with endless diplomatic meetings (including weather reports) doggedly noted. But Boutros-Ghali proves he has a sharp eye for the bizarre; for example, he recounts a bedroom conference with Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in which the Egyptian diplomat primly sits in his chair while Amin repeatedly offers a place lying next to him on the bed. Sadat emerges as a distant, removed figure who, the author thinks, put too much trust in Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. On another political note, he relates that Sadat claimed Jimmy Carter told him the U.S. president could not win reelection unless Camp David was a success, and that only then would Egypt get what it wanted. Boutros-Ghali offers a rare glimpse into a rarefied world. Photos not seen by PW. (May)