'Like Calling a Chicken a Fish': The USSR and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Process, 1977–1978

• In Event: The Soviet Union and the Middle East, 1967 and After

Abstract

Using Soviet, Bulgarian, Arab, and American sources, this paper will explore Soviet policymaking toward the Egyptian-Israeli peace process from 1977 through 1978, with special attention to Soviet relations with the so-called “rejectionist” Arabs (Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Libya, South Yemen, and the Palestine Liberation Organization). It will argue that the USSR took this course of action due to a perceived lack of leverage over its Arab friends.

Author

• Benjamin V. Allison, U of Texas at Austin