ABSTRACT
Israel's inability to deliver a decisive blow against Palestinian militant forces in the months following the Six-Day War gave militant leaders, particularly Arafat, the feeling that irregular tactics might be the road to success. Myths that Sadat and Assad might have harbored about their abilities to engage in small, contained wars to achieve limited diplomatic objectives, as well as feelings that the Israeli leadership might have had about Israel's ability to detect and withstand any Arab moves against it were all totally dispelled as a result of what happened militarily in the various phases of the 1973 encounter. This was bolstered by a new Israeli public awareness of vulnerabilities, which, coupled with a popular Arab feeling that military honor with Israel had now been restored to counter the 1967 disaster, created a momentum toward discussing peace. Forces in the Middle East that did not support peace with Israel under any circumstances began to regroup.
