272. Telegram From the Embassy in Israel to the Department of State1
1064. Re Deptel 753 and Embtel 1063.2 The text of Prime Minister Ben Gurion’s reply to President Eisenhower’s message. The original of reply, which was dated April 10 and delivered to me late last night, follows by air pouch.
“Dear Mr. President,
“I hasten to reply to your personal message conveyed to me this morning by Ambassador Lawson.
“I wish to express my deep appreciation of the motives which prompted you to communicate with me and to issue the April 9 statement from White House.3 With you, I see in war a tragedy not only in the physical sense, but also for the human spirit.
“We shall, of course, extend the fullest cooperation to Mr. Hammarskjold. At the same time, reality impels me to inform you of my grave doubts as to the outcome of the Secretary General’s mission. The essential question is whether Colonel Nasser is prepared to issue an order to his troops, regular and irregular, to refrain from hostile acts. General Burns over many months, and Mr. Hammarskjold on his last visit to the area two months ago,4 have tried in vain to influence Colonel Nasser to take this preliminary and elementary step to bring about quiet on the frontiers. All attempts to obtain from him an undertaking to observe faithfully all the provisions of the armistice agreement, as we are unequivocally prepared to do, have also failed. As you are aware, Colonel Nasser has rejected all the proposals put to him by your personal emissary, including the request for a cease-fire order.
“During the past three nights, murder gangs have been sent from the Gaza Strip by the Egyptian military authorities to kill innocent civilians, to sabotage installations, and to terrorize the peaceful countryside. The responsibility of the Egyptian authorities is clear to the UN observers. I feel confident that if the situation in all its details were brought to your attention, you would not have [Page 521] confined yourself merely to an expression of hope that we avoid retaliatory action. I cannot conceive that in the event of continuing Egyptian aggression you would expect us to abandon our country and people to the perils and blood-ridden consequences of a sustained campaign of terror by the murder gangs of the Egyptian Government. I am confident that no other country would passively submit to such a situation.
“The Government of Israel and I recognize to the full the sincerity of your statement from the White House that the United States will oppose any aggression in the area. However, I would be less than frank towards you and failing in my duty to my people, were I not to say, in all friendship, that this statement does not allay our acute anxiety regarding the security of Israel. As things stand at present, Egypt is perfecting her war machine with large supplies of Soviet arms, and is united with Syria and Saudi Arabia in pledged determination to seek the destruction of Israel. On the other hand, Israel is denied the possibility of obtaining essential arms for self defense as a result of an embargo maintained by the Government of the United States. The charter of the United Nations to which the White House statement refers existed already in 1948. Yet no member of the United Nations came to Israel’s aid when, on emerging into statehood, she was subjected to invasion by the armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan.
“Your denunciation of acts of hostility and of war evoke a deep echo in our hearts. May I, however, say again in all frankness and friendship, that it appears to us paradoxical that this declaration is not accompanied by a positive response to our application for arms for self defense. In the logic of the situation, this is the only effective way of deterring Egyptian aggression and thus saving the area and the world from the horrors of war in the Middle East.
“Colonel Nasser’s refusal to cooperate with your personal emissary, on the one hand, and the extent of his military preparations, on the other, unfortunately bear out fully our assessment of his motives in concluding his arms agreements with Czechoslovakia last September. In these circumstances the lack of response from the United States Government to our urgent appeal is source of gravest disappointment to my Government and my people.
“Sincerely yours, David Ben Gurion.”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 674.84A/4–1156. Secret; Priority. Repeated to the Mission at the United Nations eyes only for Ambassador Lodge. (Telegram 593 to USUN, April 11; Ibid.) A copy was sent to Goodpaster by Fisher Howe. (Ibid.) Despatch 631 from Tel Aviv, April 11, transmitted the signed original of Ben Gurion’s message (Ibid.), which was sent by Fisher Howe to Ann Whitman under cover of a memorandum of April 26. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File)↩
- Document 264 and supra.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 258.↩
- See footnote 4, Document 25.↩