It’s Sunday, June 28, and forty-four years ago, as Israeli forces drove deep into Lebanon, U.S. special envoy Philip Habib arrived determined to take Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to task. Habib—who made little secret of his contempt for Sharon—believed he held the upper hand and pressed the case that Israel pull back and stop bending Lebanon’s fragile government toward Israel’s terms. Sharon sat back and let the American diplomat run through his lecture. When Habib finished, Sharon reportedly produced a card of his own: a secret document, quietly drawn up with a confidant of the Lebanese leadership, already sketching the outline of an accord—normalization, security arrangements and a phased Israeli withdrawal that would leave Israel holding outposts on Lebanese soil.

Sharon had bypassed the U.S. mediators entirely, having quietly negotiated his own full-blown peace agreement directly with Lebanese President Amin Gemayel through a private emissary. Habib’s trip was pointless.

This time, the agreement went through Washington.