Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Washington in October and November, Egypt and Israel agree on most points of a draft treaty. The unresolved issues are truly mi nor, although they relate to the crux of a major Middle Eastern diplomatic problem: How directly should an Egypt-Israel peace be linked to a general Arab-Israeli settlement? So far, the negotiating process has proved remarkably durable, surviving major fluctuations as the hopes for a settlement rose, then plummeted, then rose again since Sadat's "sacred mission" to Jerusalem in November...
...especially unfortunate because a peace pact would have brought a welcome measure of stability to the Middle East at a time when the troubles in Iran threaten to plunge the entire region into turmoil. With the Shah's crown slipping and Sadat's peace initiative stalling, the moderate Arab camp is becoming increasingly vulnerable to attacks from radicals. A defeat of the Middle East's moderates would be a monumental setback for Western interests...
Sadat's insistence on linking in some way the Egyptian-Israeli treaty with movement toward autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza is, in part, a strategy to woo Arab moderates. Saudi Crown Prince Fahd specifically warned Sadat: "The extent of linkage will determine the extent to which we can support Camp David in the Arab world...
Sadat too is under great pressure. It comes primarily from his fellow Arab leaders who have made Camp David a swear word because, in their view, it largely ignored the question of a Palestinian homeland and skirted the issue of sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Only Morocco and Sudan, of all the Arab states, have endorsed Camp David. This has disappointed Cairo and Washington, which had counted on backing for Sadat from such moderate countries as Jordan, Tunisia and especially Saudi Arabia...
...possible that the negotiating atmosphere may actually improve now that there is no pressure to meet an artificial deadline. Sadat, for instance, did not want other Arab states to think that he was being rushed into making concessions. The Israelis have long made a point of refusing to buckle under pressure. One Israeli official speculated that it would be good for the talks to "cool off for a while. The last weeks were hectic. The tension added by Carter's demand for a conclusion by Dec. 17 left us exhausted...