434. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in the United Kingdom1
3132.Embtel 2170.2 Deliver following message to Macmillan from Secretary:
“Dear Harold: I appreciate very much your message of November 193 and also your first-hand account of the Baghdad Pact meeting with your impressions of the current atmosphere in the Near East. All the participants at the meeting are to be congratulated on the businesslike manner in which the new organization was launched.
“We certainly should not lose the impetus which has been developed. At the same time we need to keep in mind our present plans to make another try through Egypt towards an Arab-Israel settlement. I am encouraged by your assessment that the Arabs appear receptive to concrete moves towards a settlement and also by a report from Byroade of a conversation with Nasser in which the latter endorsed Fawzi’s encouraging remarks to our two Ambassadors.4 Accordingly, I think that the next order of business should be another major effort to secure Egypt’s cooperation in moving towards [Page 821] a settlement.Sharett is calling on me again on December 65 and I shall stress anew the essentiality of Israel making its contribution to a settlement.
“An immediate move to expand the Baghdad Pact would probably deny us Nasser’s cooperation. Therefore, I think we should wait a little before trying to bring in Jordan and Lebanon. If we are not successful in Egypt, we should endeavor to secure the adherence of those two states as soon as possible.
“US adherence to the Pact would probably have to be coupled with a security guarantee for Israel. My thought is that such a guarantee should not be extended prior to agreement on Israel’s permanent frontiers at least on the part of the northern Arab States. Otherwise, we would be giving up our strongest lever for use with Israel in obtaining a settlement.
“I was pleased that you mentioned the Buraimi incident as a matter of our mutual concern. I am disturbed by the possibility of this becoming another issue to be seized upon by nations in the area to attack the West and I believe a solution is urgently needed, possibly through a resumption of arbitration with an effective neutral supervisory commission in the zone of dispute.
. . . . . . .
“I am convinced as you are of the necessity of our continuing to work together closely in dealing with our problems in the Near East.
“Sincerely yours,Foster”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 780.5/11–2555. Secret. Drafted by Burdett; cleared with Russell,Allen,Elbrick, and Horsey; and approved and signed by Dulles.↩
- In telegram 2170, November 25,Macmillan described what had occurred at the inaugural sessions of the Baghdad Pact, which began on November 21, and he furnished Dulles with his impressions, in general, of the situation in the Near East. With respect to the prospects for an Arab-Israeli settlement,Macmillan believed that “they [the Arabs] are now ready to accept the fact that they will have to live with an Israel state.” (Ibid.)↩
- See footnote 3, Document 416.↩
- See Document 428.↩
- See Document 437.↩