Office of the Historian

684A.86/11–2853

No. 744
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs (Byroade)

secret
[Washington,] November 28, 1953.

Subject:

  • Call of Secretary General of Arab League

Participants:

  • Abd al-Khaliq Hassouna, Secretary General of the Arab League
  • The Secretary
  • NEA—Henry A. Byroade

The Secretary met with Hassouna at his request on November 24 at 2 o’clock.

Hassouna opened the conversation by expressing his appreciation for the support and leadership which the United States had given in the UN handling of the Qibya incident. He stated that he regretted there was a last-minute amendment to the resolution by the sponsoring powers but on the whole he thought the results were excellent. He stated he knew the personal difficulty experienced by the Secretary in taking such a stand, which only served to increase their appreciation. He regretted that after passage of the resolution, Ambassador Eban had seen fit to repeat Ben Gurion’s statement that Qibya was not the result of organized armed action, which was contrary to the fact and served to show the Israeli attitude of defiance.

Hassouna then asked about the Secretary’s impressions on the present state of the Egyptian problem. The Secretary replied that the situation in Egypt was one which gave us great concern. He felt that negotiations were in a state of complete suspense at the moment and he rather suspected both sides were waiting the outcome of the Sudanese elections. The Secretary asked Hassouna to be assured that we would do whatever we could to try to produce an agreed solution to the Egyptian problem.

The Secretary then spoke briefly about our policy in the Middle East. He described it as an “American” policy and one which was [Page 1445] designed to deal even-handed and with justice to both the Arab States and Israel. He reminded Hassouna of the large element of our population which was Jewish, and that there was a natural and intense interest in America in Israel. He referred to cultural and religious ties between the United States and Israel. He also referred to the ties between the United States and the Arab World and hoped they would come to realize eventually that we were neither for or against Israel, or for or against the Arab States. He stated that he hoped the United States could be of assistance to all parties and referred to the Unified Water Development project as an example of the type of progress we would like to see made. He hoped also that steps could be taken on a local basis to settle specific points of controversy.

The Secretary spoke at length on the attitude of the Arab States towards discussions of peace in the area and referred to the analogy of the East-West situation with the Russians. The Russians stated they wished to have a conference of the major powers to settle East-West tensions. The United States felt that discussions on such a vague basis would be fruitless and perhaps dangerous. The United States, however, feels that it cannot be negative as regards talks with Russia and keeps the invitation open to Russia to talk about specific problems such as Austria, Germany, etc. If the United States took the view of not talking to Russia about anything, we would lose World support. So would the Arab World lose World support if they continued to take the position that they would not talk to Israel about anything.

Hassouna seemed to agree with this line of thought and indicated he would do what he could in the area upon that basic problem. Hassouna stated that if there was any hope of progress between Israel and the Arab States, it would probably come about through a reactivation and strengthening of the PCC. This organ of the UN had in effect ceased to function although it still sat in New York. He believed that organization should be strengthened and it should be sent to the field. He realized the historical reasons why Britain was not a member but believed that she should now be added. He also thought a fifth member, such as Pakistan, should be added. If these steps were taken, he believed it might become a useful media through which the Arabs and Israel could work toward the settlement of specific issues. The Secretary found this approach extremely interesting and promised Hassouna it would receive study.