Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, The Near and Middle East, Volume IX, Part 1

684A.85/8–954: Telegram

No. 856
The Chargé in Israel (Russell) to the Department of State¹

secret

Tel Aviv, August 9, 1954—3 p.m.

147. Deptel 67.² Embassy agrees most effective single means of dealing with infiltration problem is establishment of arrangements whereby local authorities on both sides can cooperate to deal informally with problems on the spot and as they arise. Believe following points would help to make such arrangements more effective:

(1) Cooperating authorities should be civilian police rather than military. IG police likely to be less reprisal-minded than IDF and less overbearing in meetings.

(2) On Arab side, local authorities should be given greater authority to deal with specific situations without necessity of referring to higher authority which either results in no action or in delays reducing effectiveness of action.

(3) If inauguration of local arrangements could be tied in with action on tripartite proposals it would give them a context more likely to result in success though they should not be unduly delayed on that account.

(4) Right of either side to ask UNTSO use its influence with other to stop foot-dragging.

(5) If above suggestions adopted, name “local commander agreements” might be changed to one that would be more accurate, such as “local police meetings”.

Russell

1. Repeated to Cairo, Amman, Damascus, Beirut, Jerusalem, and London.
2. Printed as telegram 38 to Amman, Document 853.