Discover how peace was forged between Egypt and Israel in the 1970s, and between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists in Northern Ireland in the 1990s, through courageous leadership, mutual recognition, and compromise.
Essential Questions
- What role do courageous leaders and mediators play in transforming conflict into compromise?
- What does it take for long-standing enemies to make peace, and why is it so difficult to achieve?
- Why can peace be fragile, and what can be done to sustain it?
Big Ideas
- Beyond the Treaty: Lasting peace is built not only through agreements, but through recognition, renouncing extremism, and ongoing commitment.
- The Power of Mediation: External mediators can play a critical role in breaking deadlock and building trust between former enemies.
- Sustaining Peace: The path to peace doesn’t end with a treaty—it requires ongoing effort.
PART 1
Introduction
Video 00:00 – 00:54
PART 2
Egypt and Israel
Video 00:55 – 10:30
PART 3
Northern Ireland
Video 10:31 – 20:18
In a world often marked by conflict, it’s equally important to explore the moments when peace becomes possible. This video and its accompanying resources examine two significant peace agreements, between Egypt and Israel, and in Northern Ireland in order to better understand the individuals, contexts, and processes that contributed to these breakthroughs. Together, we’ll reflect on what peacemaking can look like and what lessons these examples may offer for the future.
How to use this guide
This guide is designed to enhance your students’ engagement with the video. You can pause at the suggested “Stop/Do/Discuss” points to explore key concepts through discussion and reflection questions provided for each section. Alternatively, you may prefer to show the entire video without breaks and use the discussion questions and activities at the end of this guide (“Summative Activities & Reflection”) for a comprehensive post-viewing discussion.
You can also utilize a flipped classroom approach, assigning the video (in full or in segments) for students to watch at home, then using class time to unpack ideas together through reflection, discussion, or hands-on activities. Choose the approach that best fits your students and classroom setting, whether it’s real-time engagement or a deeper dive after the video.
Discussion Questions
- Leader Perception: How did Begin and Sadat’s reputations shape how people viewed their decision to pursue peace—both at home and around the world? In what ways did Begin and Sadat challenge expectations about what kind of leaders could make peace?
- Building Trust: Why do you think it was so difficult for Unionists and Nationalists in Northern Ireland to trust each other? What kinds of steps helped rebuild trust—or at least enough to begin negotiations?
Learning Activities
- Analyzing Documents:
Read these excerpts from the Camp David Accords and Good Friday Agreement. Then fill out this chart. Use these questions to reflect:- What topics did the two agreements have in common? Why do you think that is the case?
- Which topics did only one agreement address? Why do you think that is the case
- Peace Letters: “A Message to the Future”
Write in-character letters from the perspective of Begin, Sadat, Hume, or Trimble after the peace agreement in response to this prompt: “Write a letter to your grandchildren explaining why you made the choices you did.” Encourage students to reference specific sacrifices, hopes for the future, and lessons learned.
- Primary Source: Camp David Accords; September 17, 1978
- Primary Source: The Belfast Agreement: An Agreement Reached at the Multi-Party Talks on Northern
- Article: “About the Good Friday Agreement”
- Article: “As it turns 25, N Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement explained”
- Article: “Reflections on Camp David at 40”
- Video: An Enduring Peace: 25 Years After the Camp David Accords
- Book: Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace by Lawrence Wright
- Book: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe