Historical context and questions to explore
Geneva, 4 September 1975. After six months of crisis with Washington and renewed negotiation, the second interim agreement with Egypt was signed: Israel withdrew from the Mitla and Gidi passes and the oil fields.
The United States placed civilian early-warning stations in Sinai and made commitments to Israel in memoranda of understanding on aid, oil supply and political coordination.
Why it mattered. In the interim agreement Israel and Egypt committed, for the first time, not to resolve the conflict between them by force. Two years later Sadat came to Jerusalem, and four years later peace was signed.
A question to think about
How do you turn agreement in principle into protocols, maps and timetables that will hold on the ground? It was an important step on the way to the 1979 peace treaty.
Why it was hard. The agreement traded territory for commitments, some of them American rather than Egyptian, and all had to be drafted to last.
His part: On 4 September 1975 Gazit signed the interim agreement with Egypt on Israel’s behalf.
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On 4 September 1975, Gazit signed the interim agreement between Israel and Egypt 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” →. The letter appointing Gazit and Shafir to represent Israel at the Geneva Peace Conference is kept today in his personal archive at the Hebrew University.
But signing is only the beginning. An agreement must also become maps, stages of withdrawal and timetables, and in the weeks after the ceremony the conference’s military working group sat on exactly that in Geneva. On 22 September, when the talks concluded, Gazit and Herzl Shafir initialled the implementation protocol and maps on Israel’s behalf; Taha el-Magdoub signed for Egypt. From that day the agreement had a timetable too, and consent became a course of action.
The week before the signing is documented in a Foreign Ministry file at the State Archives (HZ-5974/15), read here in full. Between 22 and 28 August 1975, during 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 shuttle, Gazit wrote a series of papers to Foreign Minister Yigal AllonDeputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister in Rabin’s government.What they wanted: Defensible borders, and a territorial compromise with Jordan (the “Allon Plan”).More on Yigal Allon in “People and events” →. In one he went through the text of the agreement article by article, grading each remark by its importance.
In two others he proposed agreeing with Egypt in advance on how the agreement would be presented after it was signed: “a significant step towards peace”, in the words of the agreement itself.
The agreement came with a Memorandum of Understanding between Israel and the United States, containing far-reaching American commitments: oil supplies in an emergency, freedom of navigation in international waterways, and no recognition of the PLO until it accepted Resolutions 242 and 338. Meron Medzini writes in his biography of Golda MeirPrime Minister, 1969–1974. Gazit headed her office twice: when she was Foreign Minister in the late 1950s, and as Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office from 1973.What they wanted: Security for Israel, and peace through direct negotiation, without a return to the 1967 lines.More on Golda Meir in “People and events” → that the memorandum was “drafted by Gazit”.
This is one author’s attribution, made in passing and without a source, and the drafts of the memorandum themselves were not examined here.Diplomatic recordThe Interim Agreement — UN Security Council Official RecordsDiplomatic recordReport of the UN Secretary-General, S/11818/Add.4Diplomatic recordState Archives — file HZ-5974/15: Mordechai Gazit, untitled file, August 1975 (Hebrew)Book or articleMeron Medzini — Golda Meir: A Political BiographyPhoto or filmThe signing in Geneva, 4 September 1975 (photograph)
Explore the documents and connections
Watch: the signing ceremony in Geneva, 1975The Geneva Peace Conference appointment letter, in the Gazit archive ↗
Sources and reading notes (5)
The lead source
State Archives — file HZ-5974/15: Mordechai Gazit, untitled file, August 1975 (Hebrew) ↗A Foreign Ministry file, 135 scanned pages, read in full for this site. The drafts of the interim agreement with Egypt and the papers Gazit wrote to Foreign Minister Yigal Allon between 22 and 28 August 1975: his remarks on the text of the agreement, and his proposals on how the agreement would be presented after it was signed. It holds no minutes of the meetings with Kissinger.
- Books, Articles and Letters[MEDZ] Meron Medzini — Golda Meir: A Political Biography ↗
De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2017, open access; based on the Hebrew original (Yedioth Ahronoth, 2008). Pp. 537–538: a portrait of Gazit as Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office; p. 305: the head of the Foreign Minister’s bureau; pp. 453, 486, 525, 580, 585, 653. The author directed the Government Press Office and in 1973–1974 was spokesman of the Prime Minister’s Bureau.
- Diplomatic Records[ISA597415] State Archives — file HZ-5974/15: Mordechai Gazit, untitled file, August 1975 (Hebrew) ↗
A Foreign Ministry file, 135 scanned pages, read in full for this site. The drafts of the interim agreement with Egypt and the papers Gazit wrote to Foreign Minister Yigal Allon between 22 and 28 August 1975: his remarks on the text of the agreement, and his proposals on how the agreement would be presented after it was signed. It holds no minutes of the meetings with Kissinger.
- Diplomatic Records[D6] Report of the UN Secretary-General, S/11818/Add.4 ↗
23 September 1975. Records Gazit and Herzl Shafir initialling the implementation protocol and maps on 22 September.
- Diplomatic Records[D11] The Interim Agreement — UN Security Council Official Records ↗
S/11818/Add.1–2, September 1975. The signatories and report of the signing in Geneva on 4 September. The UN distinguishes the text dated 1 September from the signing ceremony.
- Films and Photographs[GY1] The signing in Geneva, 4 September 1975 (photograph) ↗
Getty Images, Sygma collection, photograph 627407438. Photograph: Pierre Vauthey. Shown on this site in Getty Images’ own viewer, for non-commercial use; it is not stored on the site.