Lack of will or forced by circumstances? : US comprehensive peace initiatives in the Arab-Israeli conflict between 1956 and 1967

Abstract

The wars in the Middle East in 1956 and in 1967 have both been the subject of extensive research, but the eleven years between these wars have largely been considered by historians merely as an interim period. Prior to the war in the Middle East in 1956, the US government promoted a series of initiatives seeking to establish an overall peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict. After 1956, however, few if any such initiatives were made. At the same time, the United States had an outspoken goal of maintaining stability in the volatile region, and it was acknowledged that an overall peace would be the best way to accomplish this. Why, then, did the United States not promote comprehensive peace?