ABSTRACT
The Arab-Israeli war of June 1967 was a watershed event for the United States in recent Middle East history. From that date onward, each American president has been involved, to varying degrees, in the search for an Arab-Israeli peace settlement. The American view at the time of Resolution 242 was that the occupied territories would provide Israel with a tangible bargaining chip with which to extract major concessions from the Arab side. American officials have consistently maintained that Resolution 242 is not ‘self-implementing’. The American attitude toward the Israeli decision for war had been, to say the least, tolerant and understanding. The American view in Reagan’s second term seemed to be that if the parties themselves were not ready for peace, there was little that Washington could do to promote the process of accommodation. This stand-offish attitude was somewhat new to American diplomacy in the Middle East.
