On 22 October 1973, the United Nations Security Council passed its first resolution calling for a cease-fire in the 16-day-old Middle East war; but Israeli units commanded by General Ariel Sharon continued their movement southwards from Deversoir, along the west bank of the Suez Canal, and within two days had completely cut off supply lines to the Egyptian Third Army now trapped on the east bank.

It was on 26 October that Fateh's Salah Khalaf and Farouq al-Qaddumi, who had both stayed in Cairo throughout the war, went to President Sadat's Tahra Palace. The question with which the Egyptian leader confronted them there was one which was to haunt the Fateh leadership for most of the next four years. According to Khalaf ‘Before we even had a chance to sit down he asked us point-blank: “Well now, will you agree to participate in the Geneva Peace Conference?’” The two men did not feel they could provide an answer right there and then. The next day, they travelled to Beirut, where they convened an enlarged meeting of the Fateh leadership to discuss Sadat's question. As Khalaf recalled it