118. Memorandum of a Telephone Conversation Between the Secretary of State in Washington, and Arthur H. Dean in New York, February 19, 19571
TELEPHONE MESSAGE FROM MR. DEAN
D had a long talk with Eban and told Eban the substance of what the Sec said to D. Then D said these things: If you (Eban) could tell us that if by changing the words or changing the wording a little bit but in no sense would the US undertake to take juridical commitment or to make any guarantee or undertake to use its best effort to bind the UN or bring about any result in the UN but if Eban could say to D that if by changing the wording a little bit we know in advance that his boss would accept it, the Secretary would be prepared to state it as a hope that following the withdrawal of the Israelis from the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gaza Strip that the UN would be able to bring about an administration of the Gaza Strip consonant with the duties of the UNEF and consonant upon the duties imposed upon the UN with respect to the 200,000 refugees. D told Eban there was no hope for Israel retaining the civil administration of the Gaza Strip and they might as well realize it. D said that if the Israelis were to withdraw from both the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gaza Strip and if they would accept the declaration previously put forth by the US and if thereafter there was not free access of navigation to the ships of all nations, that without undertaking commitment the US would express its views in such manner as it deemed appropriate in an effort to bring about resumption of such activities. . . . D said he would like to make one personal observation to Eban which is in no sense official—if your boss is going to carry this out to the last cent and is not going to rely on the good offices of the US, then in D’s judgment he is going to lose and D thinks he should know that and you ought to know too the Sec won’t consider any changes in the draft until he knows the changes are first acceptable to Ben Gurion. D also told Eban the Sec had said he was not asking a rhetorical question when he asked if he had the power to agree. Eban said this was tremendously helpful to him—that he was leaving with a good deal of hope and D could expect to hear from him.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. Transcribed by Bernau.↩