Mustafa Khalil (, ; 18 November 1920 – 7 June 2008) was an Egyptian politician and

Prime Minister of Egypt A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

from October 2, 1978, to May 15, 1980. Khalil also served as the Egyptian Foreign Minister from February 17, 1979, until May 15, 1980, upon the resignation of the position's incumbent over objections on peace talks between

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Khalil was best known for his integral role in the negotiations that led to the 1979 Camp David Accord

peace treaty A peace treaty is an treaty, agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually country, countries or governments, which formally ends a declaration of war, state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an ag ...

between

and

Life and career

Mustafa Khalil accompanied Egyptian President

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

on his historic first visit to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, in November 1977 to meet with the

Prime Minister of Israel The prime minister of Israel (, Hebrew abbreviations, Hebrew abbreviation: ; , ''Ra'īs al-Ḥukūma'') is the head of government and chief executive of the Israel, State of Israel. Israel is a parliamentary republic with a President of Isra ...

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

. Khalil was also the

secretary general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the Arab Socialist Union at the time. The visit by

and Khalil paved the way for negotiations by

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

, which ultimately led to the

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retre ...

. Former United Nations Secretary General

Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1992 to 1996. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Boutros-Gha ...

, who served as the deputy prime minister for foreign affairs under Khalil and also travelled with Khalil and

in 1977, has talked about the important role which Khalil played in the peace negotiations, "Khalil contributed in serving the country for over 50 years and took part in making peace and building the basis of development...We continued negotiations together that ended in the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty that launched the

peace process A peace process is the set of political sociology, sociopolitical negotiations, agreements and actions that aim to solve a specific armed conflict. Definitions Prior to an armed conflict occurring, peace processes can include the prevention of ...

in the region." Khalil served as the

from 1978 until 1980. In his last years, Khalil served as the deputy chairman of the National Democratic Party, which was the governing party of

. He stepped down from that position in November 2007. He was born in the

Al Qalyubiyah Governorate Qalyubia ( ' ) is one of the governorates of Egypt, located in Lower Egypt. It is situated north of Cairo in the Nile Delta region. Its capital is Banha. Name ''Qalyubia'' is derived from the city of Qalyub, whose name is an arabization of Cal ...

. Khalil attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

where he received a master's degree and doctorate in 1948 and 1951. Mustafa Khalil died on June 7, 2008, at the age of 88 at a hospital in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. According to

MENA The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...

, Egypt's state-run

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...

, Khalil was being treated at the hospital of an unspecified illness at the time. He was survived by his wife, Nehal, his son Egyptian businessman and former parliamentarian Hisham Mustafa Khalil and daughter Zeinab Khalil. His state funeral on June 9, 2008, was a big affair attended by Egyptian President

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011 and the 41st Prime Minister of Egypt, prime minister from 1981 to ...

and dignitaries from

and abroad.

References

External links

* 1920 births 2008 deaths 20th-century prime ministers of Egypt Ministers of foreign affairs of Egypt Petroleum ministers of Egypt Transport ministers of Egypt Arab Socialist Union (Egypt) politicians National Democratic Party (Egypt) politicians {{Egypt-politician-stub