Foreign Relations of the United States, 1948, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V, Part 2

501.BB Palestine/5–848: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Bevin)¹

top secret   us urgent
niact

Washington, May 8, 1948—6 p. m.

I have just completed a lengthy meeting with Moshe Shertok of Jewish Agency who has left for New York by air and flies to Palestine tonight.² Shertok, in reporting a conversation he had just had with Creech Jones, had gained the definite impression (which was apparently strongly influencing Jewish Agency attitude) that Abdullah would move his Arab Legion into Palestine but would occupy only the Arab section and not the presently defined limits of the proposed Jewish state. Shertok said that Creech Jones predicted that the Jews would have their Jewish state on May 15; and stated that the United Kingdom is anxious not to permit a general invasion of Palestine, but that he (Creech Jones) believed that Abdullah would not commit aggression against the Jews and asked Shertok whether that would not suit the Jewish Agency.

Shertok also repeated information which he read from a cable that Brigadier Glubb’s assistant, Colonel Goldy, had made contact with Haganah in order to coordinate their respective military plans in order to “avoid clashes without appearing to betray the Arab cause.”

I understand that Creech Jones is now at sea returning to London. Shertok gave us the definite impression that Creech Jones’ statements reflected British policy. Shertok also gave us the definite impression that as a result of his conversation with Creech Jones there was a very limited possibility of the Jewish Agency accepting a truce.

Objections to truce expressed by Shertok today took substantially different line from that taken by him during truce negotiations of past three weeks.

I transmit this to you to apprise you of the situation at the moment.

Marshall

1. Sent to the Embassy in the United Kingdom in telegram 1672, with the introductory portion reading “Please transmit the following message from me to Foreign Secretary Bevin:”
2. No specific memorandum of this conversation has been found. It appears that Shertok was accompanied by Eliahu Epstein and that Under Secretary Lovett was also present. Additional observations on this discussion will be found in Secretary Marshall’s memorandum of conversation of May 12, p. 972. An account is also in the memoir published by Moshe Sharett (Shertok) under the title Be-Sha’ar ha Umot [At the Threshold of Statehood], Tel Aviv, Am Ovid, 1958.