Office of the Historian

111. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel1

Washington,June 2, 1955—6:46 p.m.

693. Please make following statement to Israel FonMin leaving with him written memorandum and advising him you acting under instructions your govt:

1.
US deplores grave incident which took place in Gaza Strip on night May 30 and regrets casualties. From evidence assembled by UNTSO it appears this incident was started when Egyptian outpost fired on Israel jeep in Israel territory.
2.
We have accordingly made strong representations to Egyptians and condemned this type behavior.
3.
At same time we cannot exonerate Israel from all responsibility for tragic sequence events which has taken place in Gaza area since reprisal raid of Feb. 28 for which Israel condemned by SC.
4.
We have already made clear to Israel FonMin our unalterable opposition to an apparent Israel policy of armed retaliation. We are further concerned at Israel practice of operating patrol vehicles along demarcation line. While such practice might be technically within Israel’s sovereign right it is inevitably most provocative in character and indicates complete disregard for necessity of diminishing tensions in area and bringing an end to this bloody cycle of incidents.
5.
Facts as we see them clearly belie assertion which we see from time to time among some quarters Israel public opinion that retaliatory raids have effect of reducing border tension. Opposite is the case.
6.
USG urgently requests that Israel Defense Forces cease taking actions which are provocative in their effect and cooperate fully with Burns and UNTSO in implementation of practical measures aimed at reduction border tensions.2

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London3 and Paris4 advise FonOff s of US action and request they take similar steps.USUN convey substance this message UK and French dels and if you think it advisable,UNSYG.5 Jerusalem inform Burns.6

Hoover
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 674.84A/6–255. Confidential; Priority. Drafted by Bergus; cleared with Ludlow; and approved by Allen, who signed for Hoover. Also sent to London, Paris, Jerusalem, and USUN. Repeated to Amman, Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, Damascus, and Jidda.↩
  2. Ambassador Lawson informed the Department on June 3 that he had repeatedly set forth the views transmitted in Department telegram 693 to the Israeli Government; thus, he believed “transmittal Department’s statement with heavy concentration criticism on Israel’s behavior and with little detail of what is being said to Egyptians would prove counter productive.” (Telegram 1021 from Tel Aviv;ibid., 674.84A/ 6–355) The Department responded on June 4 that it wished Lawson to “make it clear that we cannot concur in policy of retaliation” and that the messages to Israel and Egypt (telegram 2090 to Cairo, June 2,infra) should be delivered simultaneously. (Telegram 700 to Tel Aviv;ibid., 674.84A/6–455)↩
  3. See footnote 3,infra.↩
  4. See footnote 4, infra.↩
  5. No record of a reply from the Mission at the United Nations has been found in Department of State files.↩
  6. See footnote 6, infra.↩