Office of the Historian

61. Telegram From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) to Secretary of State Kissinger1

Washington, May 16, 1974, 1352Z.

Tohak 212/WH 41358. Deliver immediately upon receipt.

1. The President called me in after reading your latest report (Hakto 97).2 He said to pass to you the following thoughts which you could use as you see fit.

2. The President said that, while no one believed that Syria was involved in the latest terrorist incident,3 he foresaw enormous sympathy for the Israeli position as a result. The President’s analysis is that Congress would now be fully supportive of Israel in the event a disengagement is not worked out, whereas previously there was great sympathy for the Arabs in the face of Israeli reluctance to compromise.

3. It is the President’s personal opinion that in view of these latest developments, failure to achieve a disengagement will now be blamed on Syria and that this would reduce the ability of the United States to be usefully involved in efforts toward a permanent peace.

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4. The President also suggests reemphasizing that the disengagement arrangements in our eyes represent only a temporary arrangement, a beginning toward a permanent just settlement in the area.

5. Once again, the President said to use these thoughts if, and in any manner, you think they would be useful in your discussions with Asad.

Warm regards.

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 45, HAK Trip Files, Middle East, TOHAK 161–245, April 28–May 31, 1974. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only; Flash.↩
  2. The text of Hakto 97 is in Document 60.↩
  3. See footnotes 4 and 5, Document 58.↩