September 16, 1977
Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan conducts secret talks with Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Hassan Tuhami in Morocco. Tuhami (and other high-ranking Egyptians) held talks with Israeli officials on at least three occasions in 1977 (with help from both Moroccan and Romanian intermediaries), which allowed the two sides to appraise each other’s intentions and willingness to seriously negotiate for a potential peace agreement. The talks were brokered by Morocco’s King Hassan. Dayan had been in Morocco just a few weeks earlier and asked for the king’s help in arranging a meeting with an Egyptian representative.
The United States knows that private talks are taking place but does not have the details of what is exchanged. Dayan meets with U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance shortly after the meeting with Tuhami but makes no mention of it to the Americans. During the talks between Dayan and Tuhami, an understanding that a mutually satisfactory diplomatic agreement can be reached between Cairo and Jerusalem is crafted before Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem in November 1977.
