501.BB Palestine/8–1348
Memorandum by the Deputy United States Representative on the Security Council (Jessup) to Mr. John C. Ross 1
In No. 36 from Tel Aviv of August 2, and No. 1148 from Jerusalem of August 2,2 there is a repetition of a theme which I have noted in previous telegrams. The theme is the Israeli argument that the Christian nations have shown that they are not interested in Jerusalem and that this justifies the Jews in taking a different attitude toward the City. It seems to me we should not allow this to pass unchallenged. The United States and France, particularly, have over and over again publicly reiterated their interest in Jerusalem and we have privately encouraged other approaches representative of the Christian churches. I am not sure of the best way to handle it, but would like to see either a formal note to the Israeli Government, or some joint approach with the French. I think it ought to be done in such a way as to give some publicity to the action. If such a step is not approved, then I think James G. McDonald should be asked to make a strong statement in Tel Aviv on the subject.
- This memorandum and the one infra were transmitted to Mr. Rusk by Mr. Ross in a memorandum of August 13, not printed.↩
- Neither printed; the former noted that at a press conference on August 2, Mr. Shertok had stated that “Israel originally impressed by emphatic expression Christian world that Jerusalem he internationalized but when Mediator proposed turning over Jerusalem to Arab rule not one Christian nation raised slightest objection.” (867N.01/8–248)↩