One of the more human scenes in the records begins at a working lunch. Yigal Allon suggested getting down to business because the soup was very hot; around the table, the participants discussed disengagement. Later, he remarked that Gazit was still revising the draft, and referred further changes in wording to him.
Alongside the political disagreements, the memorandum also preserves jokes and laughter. Matters of state moved forward through a human encounter, with a constant exchange between political principles and the words that would appear in the document.
A few days before the disengagement agreement was signed on 18 January 1974, Kissinger and the Israeli team went over the final drafts in the Prime Minister’s office. Handed a long list of points for his meeting with Sadat, Kissinger called it “commentary and exegesis” and asked for a simple checklist. He sent Gazit and Harold Saunders of the National Security Council into the next room to draw up an agreed one. When they returned, Kissinger went through the new list item by item, and Gazit added context to a point the Chief of Staff had raised the night before.[D3][FR74B]
Kissinger: This is a commentary and exegesis. Can someone do a simple checklist? Let Hal and Gazit get together in the next room and do an agreed checklist. [Mr. Saunders and Mr. Gazit go out.]
Kissinger: [goes over the new checklist prepared by Gazit and Saunders, reads the items] — sea minefield map.
Gazit: This was mentioned by the Chief of Staff last night.
Kissinger: This he won’t agree to.