On 4 September, Gazit signed the Sinai Interim Agreement in Geneva alongside Major General Herzl ShafirIDF major general; appointed with Gazit to represent Israel at the Geneva Peace Conference in 1975.What they wanted: Security arrangements that would hold on the ground.More on Herzl Shafir in “People and events” →. On 22 September, the two also initialled the implementation protocol and maps. These were distinct steps in the diplomatic process that preceded the peace treaty of 1979. Reporting from Geneva described Gazit as head of the Israeli delegation and ambassador-designate to France.
In a 1980 interview he recalled that Anwar SadatPresident of Egypt, 1970–1981.What they wanted: To get Sinai back for Egypt, and move Egypt from Soviet to American patronage.More on Anwar Sadat in “People and events” → refused to let the talks run into 1976, fearing the American election campaign would weaken Egypt’s position. The Muslim day of rest and the High Holidays that fell that September left few working days, so two consecutive 24-hour sessions were needed — a detail he remembered with a smile.
A fork in the road
Give land, oil and passes, and receive less than peace.
Sign
The price: Giving up strategic assets for a commitment alone.
Refuse
The price: A crisis with Washington, a “reassessment” and deadlock.
And what happened?
Israel signed in 1975. Three years later came the Camp David Accords.
Sources (4)
- The Interim Agreement — UN Security Council Official Records Diplomatic record
- Report of the UN Secretary-General, S/11818/Add.4 Diplomatic record
- JTA — The interim agreement signed in Geneva Biography
- Daniel S. Benjamin — Mordechai Gazit Returns to Academe Testimony
Israel and the world
A further agreement with Egypt
The interim agreement, reached through Henry KissingerU.S. National Security Adviser and Secretary of State.What they wanted: To push the Soviet Union out of the Middle East and make the United States the only broker, through step-by-step agreements.More on Henry Kissinger in “People and events” →’s mediation, provided for a further Israeli withdrawal in Sinai and a commitment to resolve the conflict peacefully. It preceded the peace treaty signed four years later.
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