ABSTRACT

This chapter tells the story of one of the unknown episodes of the diplomatic history of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Among all the diplomatic trial balloons since 1948, the French initiative of 1969 stands out. It was the first to call for diplomatic cooperation among the four great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France—in order to put an end to the conflict. The “Forum of Four,” which included the “Forum of Two,” did not just attempt to mediate and to achieve a compromise between Israel and the Arabs; it also presumed to define the general envelope for the agreement and to dictate the path that the sides should follow toward a peace agreement. The chapter studies the diplomatic positions of Israel, Egypt, and their superpower patrons during the first months of the War of Attrition in 1969 and presents the details of the planned agreement as worked out in the deliberations among the powers, especially the United States and the Soviet Union. It also surveys the reactions to them and the reasons why the mediation effort failed.