ABSTRACT
In Egypt, President President Husni Mubarak was equally unwilling to contribute to the Palestinian dimension of the process. Eager to gain reacceptance into the Arab camp, he saw no reason to make concessions on behalf of a Palestinian autonomy formula that had long since been rejected by the Arab world. On September 1,1982, with the completion of the evacuation of PLO forces from Beirut, President Ronald Reagan made public his principles for a new phase of the Arab-Israel peace process. These were immediately dubbed “the Reagan Plan.” The Israeli public was judged more ready for a new phase in the peace process. This was assumed to be the by-product of several developments. The mounting evidence of the difficulties ahead in the Arab-Israeli peace process revived Washington’s initial business-like attitude. President Reagan instructed the administration to wait for those in the region to demonstrate an interest in American mediation.
