Foreign Relations of the United States, 1950, The Near East, South Asia, and Africa, Volume V

784.02/5–1150

Memorandum by the Department of State to the President ¹

secret

[Washington, undated.]²

Subject: Public Speeches and Statements by United States Officials Regarding the Palestine Situation.

During recent weeks there have been a number of speeches, statements and endorsements by United States officials on behalf of drives conducted by private organizations for funds to promote the immigration of persons of Jewish faith into Israel. The remarks made on these occasions were words of high praise for the people and Government of Israel, their past accomplishments and future objectives, and were, of course, in themselves appropriate and in keeping with the friendship for and interest in this country in the State of Israel.

During recent weeks, on the other hand, the United States has been the target of widespread adverse criticism in the Arab countries for alleged partiality towards Israel. Our legations in Beirut and Damascus have been bombed. A summary of Arab criticisms and reactions is enclosed as Tab A. American prestige in the Arab countries has been greatly lowered and this trend may, if continued, endanger the lives of American citizens in the Near East and cause further damage to American property in that area.

The Arabs point as evidence of American partiality for Israel to the statements by United States officials on behalf of Israel and on behalf of aid to Jewish immigration into Israel as against the absence of any statements made by persons of similar prominence and authority on behalf of the Arab countries or of sympathy for the Arab refugees from Palestine. While holding no brief for these Arab attitudes, the Department of State, during the past two years, has as a means of restoring peace and stability in the Near East, been attempting to convince the Arab states and Israel that the United States desires the friendliest of relations with both and on a strictly impartial basis.

I, therefore, respectfully suggest:

(a) That, in order to redress the balance of public statements and to create a more favorable psychological atmosphere in the Arab countries, it would be helpful if you were able to reaffirm in a public statement our friendship for the Arab Governments and peoples, at the next suitable occasion. If you approve, I shall make further suggestions shortly as to the context and timing of such a statement.

(b) That you request high officials in the Executive Branch of the Government to avoid making public statements which might appear to suggest partisanship by this Government in the controversial Palestine problem.

[Annex]

Summary of Current Arab Attitudes Toward the United States

secret

[Washington, undated.]

A. Syria

The virtually unanimous attitude of all Syrians in and out of public life as well as of the Arabs throughout the Near East in general is summed up in the following statement made on November 23, 1949, by Nazim Qudsi, formerly a distinctly pro-American Syrian Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, now a prominent political leader in Syria:

“Everything that the United States now does, no matter how it may be labelled with unselfishness and impartiality, is suspect as a camouflaged means of furthering Israel’s interests.”

Anti-American sentiment has furthermore reached a crescendo in in the wake of a statement on April 9, 1950, made by the Syrian Minister of National Economy, Marouf al Dawalibi, as follows: “If the American Government continues its pressure on Arab states in an attempt to make the Arab people subserve the Zionist cause, I hope a plebiscite will be taken in Arab countries so that it may be known whether the Arabs prefer a thousandfold to become a Soviet republic rather than a prey to world Jewry.”

Minister Dawalibi’s statement was made ex cathedra and normally could have been discounted as an emotional outburst or extremist view, were it not for the surprisingly enthusiastic reception accorded the statement by nearly all Syrian newspapers and the messages of congratulations to Minister Dawalibi which are reported to have poured in from all over Syria.

Moreover, Prime Minister Khalid Azm, in discussing the statement with our Minister at Damascus, remarked that although the statement had been made without prior consultation with him, it expressed his own feelings. He said it indicated that the people of Syria have become disillusioned, to the point of desperation, with respect to the “continued support given Israel by the United States”. It did not mean, the Prime Minister said, that Syria was as willing to align itself on the side of Russia as on the side of the United States, or desired to do so; it was not a question of choosing between two friends, such as between France and the United States, for instance; it was a question of deciding between a friend who had let one down and the devil. The Prime Minister further remarked that if we could understand how repugnant Communism is to Syria, we might better understand the depth of Syrian disappointment over our “manifest partisanship” for Israel and our efforts to persuade Syria to submerge its interests to those of Israel. The Prime Minister said that he asked only that the United States be truly impartial.

Nine days after Minister Dawalibi’s statement, the American Legations at Damascus and Beirut were bombed by unknown extremists.

The American Legation at Damascus reports:

“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Dawalibi statement and subsequent developments are well planned campaign and perhaps part of a Soviet ‘black propaganda’ drive which has thus far been more successful than (even the) most pessimistic observers would have thought possible before it started.”

B. Egypt

Two brief reports from our Embassy in Cairo point up the situation in Egypt:

1) “Arabic press today including usually sober Al Ahram vigorously attacks US for official ‘bare-faced support of Israel’ alleging that Secretary Interior and Secretary Agriculture have participated campaign to raise Zionist funds. Al Ahram links such activities with alleged anti-Egyptian press campaign and inquires if US Government ‘has no control over press surely it has control over its own Ministers’.”

2) “What with Life article about the King, the ‘Arms for Israel’ business, and the alleged presence of the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior at a meeting to collect contributions for Israel, the press of the Arab countries in general and Egypt in particular have gone hysterical in last few days in regard to United States.”

C. Iraq

The following statement was made to the United Press by Iraqi Prime Minister Tawfiq Suweidi: “The present policy of the United States toward the Arabs is preventing cooperation to form a unified front against Communist danger.”

In July, 1949 Suweidi said: “Jewish activity in America is great, not because of its strength, but because of American weakness and surrender to the Jews.” And again in July, 1949 Suweidi said: “I believe (Point IV plans) lack good faith, sincerity and earnestness. They may be meant more as propaganda …³ than as concrete propositions.”

D. Lebanon

Prime Minister Riad Solh in Lebanon informed our Minister that the Dawalibi statements were receiving wide circulation in the Arab states and said he thought it would be helpful for the future if the United States Government issued a declaration of neutrality between the Arab states and Israel.

A high official of the American University of Beirut (Lebanon) has informed the Department confidentially of his view that Communist activities have increased greatly both in volume and effectiveness. “The Communists not only play upon the traditional grievances of the under-privileged Arab people and encourage their dissatisfaction with their own governments; they also say in effect … ‘You’ll never get justice out of the West’. We are thus faced with more or less the same situation as we had in China …”

E. Saudi Arabia

While the attitude of the Saudi Arabian Government has continued friendly throughout the recent press campaign, the Saudi Finance Minister stated privately that the atmosphere between the Arab states and the United States Government had been greatly poisoned by the charges that had been made against the United States Government.

In commenting on the above-mentioned suggestion of Lebanese Prime Minister Riad Solh, our Embassy at Jidda has expressed the view that a public statement of our impartiality as between Israel and the Arab states “would do much to clear the atmosphere which has been empoisoned recently by Dawalibi’s declaration, press reports in Cairo concerning alleged dictation by the United States Government to the Arab States, support given Zionist fund raising campaign by United States Cabinet officers …

“Arabs are asking why, if we profess impartiality or even common humanitarian impulses, there are no voices raised in the United States of comparable rank to Cabinet Secretaries in behalf of thousands of Arab displaced persons.”

These are but a few representative samples of impressions of the United States in the Near East, which make it abundantly clear that United States prestige has seriously declined in all the Arab countries.

1. On May 1, Mr. McGhee sent a memorandum to Secretary Acheson, to which was attached a suggested memorandum to the President dealing with public speeches and statements by United States officials regarding the Palestine situation (784A.00/5–150). The editors have been unable to find the draft, the first of three drafts, in the files of the Department of State. A revised memorandum to the President was prepared on May 4 (784A.00/6–1650), not printed. Secretary Acheson took this second draft to the White House on May 4 to discuss it with the President but “did not have time to refer to this item” (Secretary’s Memoranda, Lot 53 D 444. This file is described below.). The Department thereupon prepared, with minor changes, a third draft, herein printed, which Acting Secretary of State James E. Webb carried to the White House on May 18. Mr. Webb’s memorandum of conversation of that date recorded that “The President examined the memorandum with respect to statements by Government officials regarding Palestine and said he would like to keep it. When I expressed a reservation about this he said I need not worry, it would not cause any trouble, and that he would take care of the matter. He said also that at some proper time when this series in the Israeli fund-raising campaign was over, he would also make a statement reiterating friendship for the Arab states. We should prepare such a statement at the proper time and submit it” (784A.00/6–1650)

   Lot 53 D 444 is a comprehensive chronological collection of the Secretary of State’s memoranda and memoranda of conversation for the years 1947–1953, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State.

2. Handwritten note on the source text: “Left with the President 5–18–50”.
3. All ellipses as in the source text.