Office of the Historian

501.BB Palestine/8–549

Memorandum by the Secretary of State1

secret
[Washington,] August 1, 1949.

Conference With the President—July 29

The President informed me that the Israeli Ambassador, who has recently returned from a visit to Israel, called on him and said that he would shortly call on me. The President thought that his attitude was more conciliatory than it had been prior to his departure. He made the following points:

(1)
The Israeli Government was anxious to make progress on the refugee question and would repatriate up to 100,000 refugees.
(2)
They wished the United States to oppose in the General Assembly any raising of the embargo on arms.
(3)
The Israeli Government wished to retain the Negeb.
(4)
The Israeli Government wished to retain the continued friendship and support of the United States Government.2

D[ean] A[cheson]
  1. Addressed to Messrs. Rusk, Sandifer, and McGhee and to Ernest A. Gross, Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, and Adrian S. Fisher, the Legal Adviser.↩
  2. A summary of this memorandum was sent to the American Delegation at Lausanne in Unpal 219, August 5, 8 p. m. (501.BB Palestine/8–549), repeated to New York, Arab capitals, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, London, Paris, and Ankara.↩