Mostafa Khalil President Anwar Sadat on his historic first visit to Jerusalem, Israel, in November 1977 to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin. Khalil was the secretary general of the Arab Socialist Union at the time. The visit by Sadat and Khalil paved the way for negotiations by United States President Jimmy Carter, which ultimately led to the Camp David Accords. Former United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who served as the deputy prime minister for foreign affairs, and also travelled with Khalil and Sadat to Israel in 1977, has talked about the important role which Khalil played in
Anwar Sadat an Egyptian orientation following the 1973 war (see Egypt). The neighboring Arab countries believed that in signing the accords, Sadat had put Egypt's interests ahead of Arab unity, betraying Nasser's pan-Arabism, and destroyed the vision of a united "Arab front" for the support of the Palestinians against the "Zionist Entity". However, Sadat decided early on that peace is the solution. Sadat's shift towards a strategic relationship with the US was also seen as a betrayal by many Arabs. In the United States his peace moves gained him popularity among some Evangelical circles. He was awarded the Prince of Peace Award