ABSTRACT

This chapter explains why some US participants came to see the Arab-Israeli peace process as a political process—not just as negotiation. It focuses on the premise that placing the peace process in the context of dramatic global change strengthens the argument for the broader political approach. Even though Egyptian forces were being badly mauled at the end of the war, Sadat proclaimed victory, and that "victory" became the operative political fact in the Middle East. Middle Eastern states became stronger and vigorously pursued efforts to establish independence of action and to wrest a share of influence and resources from the established powers. States in the Middle East steadily loosened political ties to former colonial powers and tried to reduce dependence on the industrialized states. The Palestine Liberation Organization, embracing four million Palestinians in and beyond the Middle East, formed a "state within a state" in Lebanon.