Word: habib
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Envoy Habib struggles to defuse the missile crisis...
...Soviet-made missiles, and there was always the grave risk that one side or the other could miscalculate and ignite the region in conflict. But for the first time since the confrontation began, there was cautious optimism in both Jerusalem and Damascus that U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib, 61, might succeed, through his patient, peripatetic diplomatic shuttle, in fashioning a resolution to the crisis-a mission that was given virtually no chance of success when he undertook it three weeks...
...first glimmer that Habib's talkathon might be paying off came early in the week, when Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin made the surprising announcement that his Cabinet had unanimously voted "to put no time limit whatsoever" on Habib's efforts to solve the problem through diplomatic channels. At the outset of the crisis, Begin had darkly hinted that Secretary of State Alexander Haig's envoy had only a week to work his magic, or Israel would attack the missiles. Two days after the Cabinet meeting, in what seemed to be a reassuring signal to Syria...
...last best hope for peace in the area, was as tight-lipped as ever about his mission. "I know you guys have to make a living too," he told reporters, "but this is a serious effort that in no way would be served by public comment." Habib has skillfully managed to cool tempers during his meetings with Begin and Assad. Remarks an American diplomat involved in the shuttle: "He has a knack for timing, knowing when to act as conceptualizer one moment and a street-wise Brooklyn type the next...
After three tense and exhausting weeks on the diplomatic trail, Habib could already be credited with helping to forestall an Israeli air raid on the missile sites. But the future joustings of bitter Middle Eastern rivalries remained uncertain, even if the immediate crisis could be resolved. Said a Western diplomat: "I hate to think that he might have to live like this for a couple of years...