The notion of shuttle diplomacy is said to have emerged from Henry Kissinger's efforts in the Middle East in the early 1970s. He flew back and forth between Middle Eastern capitals for months in an effort to bring about peace after the 1973 Arab-Israeli crises.

1. Shuttle Diplomacy in the Middle East
Presented by Sohail Ahmad
sohailahmadndu@gmail.com

2. Background
The Middle East is a region of great complexity reflecting overlapping contradictory features at all levels of
political organization, especially the interplay of ethnic, tribal, and religious tensions internal to states as
intensified by regional and geopolitical actors pursuing hostile policy agendas.
 Theodor Herzl (Organized First World Zionist Organization)
 Balfour Declaration
 Summer 1947—UN Special Commission recommended
partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states
Since Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, Arab nations had engaged in wars with the Jewish state, and none
had opened up diplomatic relations with Israel by the 1970s.
 The Arabs, especially Palestinians, considered Israeli territory rightfully theirs.
 The Muslim (and Jewish) holy city of Jerusalem was located within Israel’s borders.
 United States was Israel’s steadfast ally from the beginning.

3. Cont.……
 Israel attacks Syria from its positions on the Golan Heights. The Soviet
Union’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Dobrynin, tells U.S.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger that Soviet airborne forces are on the
alert to defend Damascus. Kissinger warns Dobrynin that if the Soviet forces
sent troops to the Middle East, the United States would as well.
 The first Israeli troops cross the Suez Canal. Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat asks the Soviet Union to convene the United Nations and seek a
cease-fire.
 Ten Arab member-nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries announce they will cut oil production until Israel withdraws from
Arab territory captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and the rights of the
Palestinian people were ``restored.” The embargo was not completely lifted
until March 1974.

4. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/316377942543443310/

5. November 1973, OPEC oil embargo
Arab members of OPEC imposed an embargo to the United States for re-supplying Israel. The oil embargo
immediately strained the U. S. economy for the United States were highly dependent on foreign oil.
In response to the U.S. airlift of arms and equipment to Israel, the Arab oil producing nations strangled the
supply of oil to the U.S. and Western countries, causing gasoline shortages, long lines at filling stations, and
higher gasoline prices, in what was known as the “Energy Crisis” of 1973-74.

6. source ://palisade-research.com/iran-could-change-the-face-of-opec/

7. Shuttle diplomacy
Direct communication between two disputing states is likely to be counterproductive
Dispute is highly sensible and emotional (religion, territory, national pride etc.) "Shuttle" is
respected and perceived faire by both disputers.
"Activity in which a person travels back and forth between
two countries and talks to their leaders in order to bring
about agreement, prevent war, etc.“

8. What is good about SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY?
• Theoretically
un-biased neutral mediator
• Practically
seldom neutral, but able to conduct his mission in an acceptable for both parties.
The notion of shuttle diplomacy is said to have emerged
from Henry Kissinger's efforts in the Middle East in the early
1970s. He flew back and forth between Middle Eastern capitals
for months in an effort to bring about peace after the 1973
Arab-Israeli War.

9. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger engaged in “shuttle diplomacy,” a term coined by the members of the media who followed
Kissinger on his various short flights among Middle East capitals as he sought to deal with the outcome of the October 1973
Yom Kippur War. President Richard Nixon and Kissinger with an opportunity to play a lead role in disengaging these armies
from one another and possibly laying the groundwork for further steps to peacefully resolve the 25-year conflict.
In January 1974, Kissinger helped negotiate the first Egyptian-Israeli disengagement agreement in eight days, and in May, he
arranged a Syrian-Israeli disengagement after a month of intense negotiations. Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy secured one last
deal in September 1975 with the conclusion of a second Egyptian-Israeli disengagement agreement.

10. CONT………
The 1973 war to the fall of 1975 three interim agreements were negotiated. For every agreement,
there were two or three trips to the Middle East.
“Kissinger stopped being the Secretary of State and became Dr. Kissinger, an
American professor serving as a consultant to the State of Israel”
SORCE : Moments in U.S. Diplomatic History On the Road Again — Kissinger’s Shuttle Diplomacy
The UN security Council Resolution 242
The UN SC Resolution 242, which highlights on “just and lasting peace in which
every State in the area can live in security”. This was the starting of further
negotiations.

11. CONT…..
Kissinger planned to use the process not only to reach agreements among the combatants, but to achieve a
major geopolitical objective:
to displace the Soviet Union from its Middle Eastern sphere of influence. Until the outbreak of war, the
Soviets had used the years-long stalemate between the Arabs and Israelis to cultivate alliances with Arab
nations, encouraging a status quo that effectively blocked the United States from gaining influence in the
region.
The United States had four diplomatic goals in the Yom Kippur War.
 Negotiate a quick end to the war.
 Maintain its support of Israel.
 Preserve relations with Arab states upon whom the U.S. was increasingly reliant for oil.
Prevent the Soviet Union from entering the war and turning it into a Cold War battle.
Kissinger’s achievements included:
 Troop disengagements between Israel and Syria, May 1974.
 Israeli withdrawal from areas won from Syria in 1973.
 Israeli withdrawal from areas of the Sinai Peninsula.
 Prisoners of war exchanges.
 An end to the Arab oil embargo

12. Successful Example
Camp David Accords, 1978-1979
President Carter meets up with Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat and Israeli leader, Menachem
Begin at Camp David in order to talk over a treaty that outlines “the framework for peace in
the Middle East”. The Sinai Peninsula was returned entirely back to Egypt.

13. P.L.O
Yasir Arafat was the leader of the P.L.O. from 1969 – 2004.By 1991 world pressure led to
peace talks again

15. conclusion
Saudi Arabia and its GCC remain within the American camp, and increasingly less
covertly, on the Israeli side. GCC state officials have had several meetings with Israeli
counterparts over the years, and of late, GCC officials have been making statements
declaring that Israel is not an enemy. It is as if they are conditioning Arabs to listen to
this rhetoric, clearly with the ultimate objective of normalizing relationships with
Israel; something that the Arab street continues to refuse to accept, even in Egypt
and Jordan despite their peace treaties with Israel and exchange of diplomatic
representation.
American foreign policy in the Middle East has not failed given certain assumptions
about its character and priorities. If U.S. priorities are oil, Israel, non-proliferation,
and the containment of political Islam, then American policy in the region, despite
the collateral devastation and suffering entailed, has been surprisingly successful. For
decades U.S. strategic relationships with the Gulf states have been successfully
balanced with support for Israel. Oil has continued to keep the world economy going
at affordable prices during a period when additional energy sources outside the
region have been under development and exploration.

17. Thank you