674.84A/9–852: Despatch
No. 482
The Ambassador in Egypt (Caffery) to the Department of State
No. 405
Reference:
- Tel Aviv’s telegram 371 to Dept., September 4, rptd Cairo 39, London 43; Emb. telegram 571 to Dept., September 5, rptd London 188, Tel Aviv 10.1
Subject:
- Israeli Efforts To Establish Peace Conversations With Egypt.
Apparently as one of his last acts as Prime Minister of Egypt or, as the final paragraph of his letter would appear to intimate, as an ex post facto clearing of his Foreign Office affairs, the recent Prime Minister, Aly Maher, has today sent me a note reporting the secret contacts established in Paris by the Israeli Legation seeking to ascertain the Egyptian position on possible peace negotiations with Israel.
Aly Maher enclosed the French text of telegrams from the Egyptian Embassy in Paris dated August 23 and September 3. Translations of these telegrams form enclosures 2 and 3 of this despatch, the first enclosure being a copy of Aly Maher’s letter to me.2
Two salient points emerge from this correspondence: One, the statement of the former Prime Minister that,
“Egypt feels it necessary, before starting any pourparlers, to know the present attitude of Israel towards the implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations.” [Page 995] and two, the rather sinister comment of the Israeli First Secretary in Paris that,
“His Government would be obliged in the case of no reply to announce that it had already taken this initiative in view of the interest to which the question of peace with Israel gives rise in international public opinion, especially American and English.”
This latter warning of publicity will serve to reaffirm the deepseated Egyptian suspicion of the bona fides of Israeli motives in seeking peace with this country. Certainly nothing could be more calculated to defeat the purpose of the Israeli Prime Minister, if indeed Mr. Ben Gurion desires peace with Egypt, than once more to give publicity to an abortive démarche. Furthermore, as my reference telegram indicates, the energies and attention of the Egyptian Government and people are now centered wholly upon questions of domestic reform and for this reason alone the time is inopportune to press for settlement of Egypt’s outstanding difficulties with Israel.
- In telegram 571 from Cairo, Sept. 5, Ambassador Caffery stated (in reiteration of his telegram 561, also Sept. 5, not printed) that the energies and attention of the leaders of Egypt’s military coup were concentrated on domestic reform to the exclusion of international issues. Furthermore, although Prime Minister Ali Maher had indicated to him that peace with Israel was third on his list of priority items, Caffery was not sanguine as to the prospect of an affirmative Egyptian response to Israel. (774.00/9–552)↩
- Enclosures not printed.↩