Office of the Historian

501.BB Palestine/4–948

Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Henderson) to the Acting Secretary of State (Lovett)

secret
[Washington,] April 9, 1948.

I am attaching, for your approval and signature, proposed messages from me to Dr. Judah Magnes of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and to Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, with regard to Palestine.1

It has become apparent in recent days that the extreme public positions taken by the Jewish Agency and the Arab Higher Committee make it increasingly difficult for them to modify their positions sufficiently so that the United Nations can arrange a truce and provide interim governmental machinery after May 15 in Palestine.

It is my hope that the influence of moderate and temperate Jews and Arabs such as Dr. Magnes, Azzam Pasha and associates of their choosing might break the present log jam in the United Nations. I am, therefore, [Page 805] endeavoring to prevail on them to come to the United States as soon as possible. I hope that the proposed telegrams attached will persuade them to do so.

L[oy] W. H[enderson]
  1. The telegrams were signed by Mr. Lovett and sent on April 10 as No. 258 to Jerusalem and No. 398 to Cairo, pp. 811 and 812, respectively.↩