Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, The Near and Middle East, Volume IX, Part 1
  4. Document 394

320/1–2252: Telegram

No. 394
The Secretary of State to the United States Delegation at the United Nations General Assembly, at Paris1

secret
Washington, January 28, 1952—4:15 p.m.

Gadel 853. While US mindful of Israel as well as world interests in free transit Suez Canal (Delga 1142)2 believe reopening question SC res Sep 1 re Suez this time wld not serve Israel’s best interests or those other interested parties or contribute to settlement this problem. Present status Anglo-Egyptian relations make unlikely any SC action wld be effective or helpful this time. Also believe public discussion of issues or attempt by Israel make test case wld only exacerbate already seriously strained relations between Egypt and West. When progress has been made in solution Anglo-Egyptian question more opportune occasion may arise take up implementation SC res Sep 1.

Recommend you inform Eban US views and suggest he may wish limit himself this time to informal talks with cosponsors SC res Sep 1. Emb Tel Aviv auth inform FonOff US views this matter.

Acheson
  1. Repeated to Tel Aviv, London, Ankara, and Cairo.↩
  2. Document 389.↩