ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 focuses on the talks between US assistant secretary of state Joseph Sisco and the Soviet ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Dobrynin, otherwise known as the bilateral talks. As might have been expected, the Americans and Soviets took on the major burden of finding a solution to the conflict. The two men examined their countries’ positions on the principles that needed to be included in an accord between Israel and the Arabs and considered whether it might be possible to reach agreement about them. The chapter also describes the course of the discussions between Sisco and Dobrynin, the crystallization of principles for future agreement, and finally the failure of the initiative and the military escalation that followed.
