683.84A/11–1352: Telegram
No. 516
The Ambassador in Israel (Davis) to the Department of State1
779. Re Damascus Embtel 345 to Dept.2 It is believed crux of difficulty is summed up in Damascus desp 1853 in statement to effect Colonel Shishikli wishes modus vivendi (rather than a permanent settlement) that will last “only until such time as Arab rights can be effectively reasserted.” Israel on other hand wants econ and polit as well as mil peace which will permit it to become integrated in the life of the ME. Unless Israel can convince the Arabs that they have much to gain from peace, there wld seem little immediate chance for real progress toward area stability and defense.
Israel is interested in a durable frontier and might be ready to eliminate the demilitarized zone as the price for peace and friendship, but for a closed frontier, no peace and a continuation of the blockade the proposal outlined in reftel will have little appeal to the Israelis. Thus Emb believes that however slight the chances of success may be we shld continue to encourage both parties to negotiate directly with each other in the hope that a basis for some progress toward settlement will be found. IG has now expressed willingness discuss problem with Syria, which was not the case a year ago when the FonMin thought no good purpose wld be served. A modus vivendi certainly cld precede a more formal settlement, [Page 1054] but to be mutually satis and produce good results it wld have to be in truth a step toward peace.
- Repeated to Damascus, Paris, Amman, Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, London, and Rome; sent by pouch to Ankara and Jidda.↩
- Document 509.↩
- Document 494.↩