325. Information Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1
Washington, November 18, 1968, 2:40 p.m.
Mr. President:
These two special CIA messages on Israel-Jordan negotiations have just arrived via Dick Helms.2
As you will see:
- —The Israelis have agreed to proceed with the secret 19th November meeting, although they sought a week’s postponement. The Jordanians believe the postponement was requested because of Israel’s difficulty in obtaining a Cabinet consensus on their negotiating position.
- —[3-1/2 lines of source text not declassified]
- —You will recall from earlier messages that, if the meeting with the Israelis were successful, Hussein envisaged that the positive results would be surfaced through Jarring and carried forward by Jarring from [Page 644] that point. If the result of the 19th November meeting were negative, Hussein envisaged surfacing his own position through Jarring and letting Jarring carry the matter from that point forward so that for the first time Jarring would be able to deal with both the UAR and Jordanian aspects of the problem.
[4 paragraphs (16 lines of source text) not declassified]
Walt
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Files of Walt W. Rostow, Arab-Israeli Private Talks. Secret; Sensitive; Literally Eyes Only.↩
- Reference is to two memoranda sent by CIA Director Helms to President Johnson on November 18 reporting on secret negotiations between Israel and Jordan; neither printed.↩