Israel’s initial expectation of rapidly concluding a formal peace treaty with its northern neighbour in the immediate aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War proved entirely illusory. The Failed Diplomacy of Lausanne In April 1949, the United Nations established the Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP), sponsoring multilateral Arab-Israeli peace negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was at Lausanne that Israeli diplomats discovered a sobering strategic reality: Tel Aviv had yielded its military toehold on the Litani River during the armistice negotiations in return for virtually nothing. The Israeli proposal submitted to the Lebanese delegation at Lausanne was stark in its simplicity, yet exceptionally…