Historical context and questions to explore
On the Golan Heights no calm came even after the ceasefire: months of shelling and incidents, a war of attrition in all but name. In May 1974 Kissinger shuttled between Damascus and Jerusalem for a full month, until on 31 May the disengagement agreement with Syria was signed.
Israel withdrew from the territory captured in 1973 and from the town of Quneitra, and a UN observer force, UNDOF, was placed between the sides.
Why it mattered. The line drawn then on the Golan Heights, and the UN observer force placed along it, held for decades: one of the most durable arrangements in the history of the conflict.
A question to think about
How do you bring the cabinet to decide on a painful but necessary agreement, in the very weeks when the prime minister herself is about to step down?
Why it was hard. The area is small, the settlements are close, and distances are measured in hundreds of metres — every kilometre was a security and political matter.
His part: In the negotiations on the disengagement agreement with Syria, in May 1974, Gazit was one of the key people of the Prime Minister’s Office: he sat in the decisive discussion with Kissinger, ran the cables to Washington, and represented Israel at the signing in Geneva.
On 28 May 1974 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” → returned from Damascus and reported at the Prime Minister’s Office on the final stage of the disengagement negotiations with Syria. Gazit, Director-General of the Prime Minister’s Office, sat alongside 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” →, Prime Minister-designate Yitzhak RabinPrime Minister, 1974–1977; earlier Deputy Chief of Staff and ambassador in Washington.What they wanted: To move step by step, through interim agreements, in return for American guarantees and arms.More on Yitzhak Rabin in “People and events” →, 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” →, Abba EbanForeign Minister, 1966–1974.What they wanted: To present Israel to the world as a country seeking peace, and to win support for it.More on Abba Eban in “People and events” →, Moshe DayanDefence Minister, 1967–1974, and Foreign Minister, 1977–1979.What they wanted: Defensible borders; and after 1977, as foreign minister, peace with Egypt.More on Moshe Dayan in “People and events” → and Shimon PeresDeputy Defence Minister, 1959–1965; Defence Minister in Rabin’s government, and Foreign Minister in the unity government in 1987; later Prime Minister and President.What they wanted: To rebuild the army after the war, while keeping room for talks.More on Shimon Peres in “People and events” →.
The discussion covered the separation line, the Mount Hermon area, the UN observer force and the wording of the American assurance on attacks across the line. It ended with the drafts being taken to the Cabinet for a decision. Three days later, on 31 May, the agreement was signed.
That same night, before dawn on 29 May, a gap still remained between the Syrian map and the Israeli one. Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur proposed a working group to sit on the maps, and named its members by their nicknames: Joseph SiscoAssistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, the senior State Department official responsible for the region.What they wanted: To advance the American initiatives and bridge the parties’ positions.More on Joseph Sisco in “People and events” →, “Mottke” and “Dovele”, that is, Gazit and Colonel Dov SionA colonel in the IDF Planning Branch; one of Israel’s representatives in the disengagement talks.More on Dov Sion in “People and events” →. It was these two who went to Geneva a few days later.
A memorandum written by Gazit, kept at the State Archives (HZ-5977/2), records the night before the signing, hour by hour. On 30 May at 22:00 he took from US Ambassador Kenneth KeatingUnited States ambassador to Israel, 1973–1975.More on Kenneth Keating in “People and events” → a message from the Secretary of State: the Syrians had asked that an Egyptian representative sign the agreement as well.
At midnight, after the ministers had met, he telephoned Golda Meir’s reply to the Ambassador’s deputy: Israel agreed, on condition that the signature be on behalf of Syria only and that Egypt would not thereby become a party to the agreement. At 03:20 Kissinger’s confirmation came in.
At 06:30 he dictated a cable for the delegation in Geneva to Avraham KidronDirector-General of the Foreign Ministry during the Yom Kippur War.More on Avraham Kidron in “People and events” →, Director-General of the Foreign Ministry, and at 06:50 he telephoned the answer to Golda Meir, to Rabin and to Colonel Arie BraunAn officer in the Defence Minister’s bureau; military secretary to Moshe Dayan.More on Arie Braun in “People and events” →.
The agreement was signed in Geneva in two stages: the ceasefire on 31 May, and the disengagement agreement itself on 5 June. 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” → headed the Israeli delegation. Gazit represented Israel in Geneva, alongside Colonel Dov Sion and the Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser, Meir RosenneLegal adviser to the Foreign Ministry.What they wanted: Precise legal texts that leave no opening for readings against Israel.More on Meir Rosenne in “People and events” →. On the maps the Israeli separation line was marked in blue and the Syrian one in red.
The State Archives hold his working files from those weeks: three Foreign Ministry files titled “Mordechai Gazit – Disengagement Syria, May 1974” (HZ-5976/1 to 3), and the file of the cables he sent to Ambassador Simcha DinitzIsrael’s ambassador in Washington from 1973.What they wanted: American arms and support, during the war and after it.More on Simcha Dinitz in “People and events” → (A-7059/9). They are listed among the sources of the State Archives’ publication on the negotiations, alongside the Prime Minister’s Office file “Disengagement – Syria, last stage” (A-7033/11).
One of the three files, HZ-5976/2, was read here in full. It holds the memorandum Gazit sent to the Defence Minister’s bureau ahead of Dayan’s talks in Washington in March, and the “Points for decision” over his handwritten signature of 28 May, the day of the discussion: the eight questions still open.
And it holds two sheets in English of 2 May, marked by hand “prepared by M.G.”, for Kissinger’s talks in Damascus. On the list of matters for the Secretary to raise with Hafez al-AssadPresident of Syria, 1971–2000.What they wanted: To recover the Golan Heights for Syria.More on Hafez al-Assad in “People and events” →: “Emigration of Syrian Jews wishing to leave Syria”, and “Return of the body of Eli CohenAn Israeli agent in Damascus; caught and executed in Syria in 1965.More on Eli Cohen in “People and events” →”.Diplomatic recordThe agreement with Syria, 28 May 1974Diplomatic recordFRUS — the last night before the Syrian agreement, 29 May 1974Diplomatic recordMinistry of Defense — The disengagement agreement with Syria (Hebrew)Diplomatic recordIsrael State Archives — End of an era: Golda Meir’s government and the negotiations on a disengagement agreement with Syria (Hebrew)Diplomatic recordState Archives — file HZ-5977/2: Mordechai Gazit, the Prime Minister’s messages to the US President (Hebrew)Diplomatic recordState Archives — file HZ-5976/2: Mordechai Gazit, disengagement with Syria, May 1974 (Hebrew)
Sources and reading notes (6)
The lead source
State Archives — file HZ-5976/2: Mordechai Gazit, disengagement with Syria, May 1974 (Hebrew) ↗A Foreign Ministry file, 264 scanned pages, read in full for this site. Gazit’s papers on the negotiations with Syria: the memorandum for the Defence Minister’s talks in Washington (20 March 1974), the sheets prepared for Kissinger’s talks in Damascus (2 May), the signed “Points for decision” of 28 May, and the text he dictated on the Hermon road (28 August). Names of prisoners and of the missing, military details and intelligence material are not given on this site.
- Diplomatic Records[FR74M] FRUS — the last night before the Syrian agreement, 29 May 1974 ↗
FRUS 1969–1976, vol. XXVI, doc. 78. Memorandum of conversation, Jerusalem, before dawn. Chief of Staff Gur proposes a working group on the maps: Sisco, “Mottke” [Gazit] and “Dovele” [Sion].
- Diplomatic Records[ISA59772] State Archives — file HZ-5977/2: Mordechai Gazit, the Prime Minister’s messages to the US President (Hebrew) ↗
A Foreign Ministry file, 274 scanned pages, 1973–1975, read in full for this site. It holds messages and letters between Prime Ministers Meir and Rabin and Presidents Nixon and Ford, cables that went out over Gazit’s signature, his signed memorandum on the night of 30–31 May 1974 before the signing with Syria, and his note of 15 November 1974 on a message to President Ford. Letters and cables from May and June 1974 were withdrawn from the file.
- Diplomatic Records[ISA59762] State Archives — file HZ-5976/2: Mordechai Gazit, disengagement with Syria, May 1974 (Hebrew) ↗
A Foreign Ministry file, 264 scanned pages, read in full for this site. Gazit’s papers on the negotiations with Syria: the memorandum for the Defence Minister’s talks in Washington (20 March 1974), the sheets prepared for Kissinger’s talks in Damascus (2 May), the signed “Points for decision” of 28 May, and the text he dictated on the Hermon road (28 August). Names of prisoners and of the missing, military details and intelligence material are not given on this site.
- Diplomatic Records[FR74] The agreement with Syria, 28 May 1974 ↗
FRUS 1969–1976, Volume XXVI, Document 76. Memorandum of conversation at the Prime Minister’s Office.
- Diplomatic Records[ISA74] Israel State Archives — End of an era: Golda Meir’s government and the negotiations on a disengagement agreement with Syria (Hebrew) ↗
A State Archives publication, chapter “List of files and bibliography”. Listed there: A-7033/11, “Disengagement – Syria, last stage – March–June 1974”; A-7059/9, outgoing cables from Mordechai Gazit to Simcha Dinitz; HZ-5976/1 to 3, “Mordechai Gazit – Disengagement Syria, May 1974”.
- Diplomatic Records[MOD74] Ministry of Defense — The disengagement agreement with Syria (Hebrew) ↗
The Ministry of Defense’s Yom Kippur War website. The two signing stages in Geneva, 31 May and 5 June 1974, and the list of Israel’s representatives: Major General Herzl Shafir, Mordechai Gazit, Colonel Dov Sion and Meir Rosenne. A study by the IDF History Department lists the military delegation without Gazit.