Fateful Triangle

Rejectionism and Accomodation139decided to try a limited military option which, combined with an oilembargo, would lead to a significant Israeli withdrawal from Arabterritories.” 73 To the great surprise of Israel, the U.S., and virtuallyeveryone else, Egypt and Syria were remarkably successful in the earlystages of the war and Saudi Arabia was compelled (reluctantly, itseems) to join in an oil boycott, the first major use of the “oil weapon,” amove with considerable long-term implications in international affairs.Primary responsibility for these developments is attributable to HenryKissinger’s ignorance and blind reliance on force.At that point, U.S. policy shifted, reflecting the understanding thatEgypt and the oil-producing states could not be so easily dismissed orcontrolled. Kissinger undertook his shuttle diplomacy and other diplomaticefforts. Concealed behind the razzle-dazzle was the easilydiscernible intent, now surely clear in retrospect even to those whocould not perceive it at the time, to accept Egypt as a U.S. client statewhile effectively removing it from the Middle East conflict with a Sinaiagreement. Then Israel would be free to continue its policies ofintegrating the occupied territories—and to concentrate its forces for waron the northern border without concern for the major Arab military force,as when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978 and again in 1982.Egypt continued to press for a full-scale peace settlement, now joinedby other Arab states. In January 1976, the U.S. was compelled to vetoa UN Security Council Resolution calling for a settlement in terms of theinternational consensus, which now included a Palestinian statealongside of Israel. The resolution called for a settlement on the 1967borders, with “appropriate arrangements…to guarantee…thesovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of all states inthe area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognizedboundaries,” including Israel and a new Palestinian state in the occupiedterritories. The resolution was backed by the “confrontation states”Classics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky