ABSTRACT
The years 1979-1991 produced dramatic change for US foreign policy in the Middle East and the world. From the end of the Cold War to the onset of the Gulf War, new opportunities for peace arose in conjunction with new perceived threats to US interests in the region. US-Israeli relations were reinforced in the context of a renewed Cold War environment begun by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and fueled by the perceptions of Presidents Carter and Reagan about its meaning. Détente was dead, and so peace processes and regional issues took a backseat to geo-strategic rivalry. Israel, then, resumed the role of strategic asset under the revitalized effort to contain Soviet influence in the Middle East.
