153. Memorandum From Arthur H. Dean to the Secretary of State1
(1) Ambassador Eban telephoned to me last night after he had gotten through with his conference with Secretary General Hammarskjold and I saw him for about half an hour at 11 p.m.
Ambassador Eban said he found Secretary General very sympathetic to Israel’s position and said he thought it a catastrophe that Egypt should resume the civil administration of the Gaza Strip, but that he, the Secretary General, had no authority to change the Armistice Agreement or the lines of the Armistice Agreement, and he did not see how he, the Secretary General, could avoid the restoration of the Egyptian civil administration. Ambassador Eban said he had told the Secretary General that this seemed to him to be standing on a legality and to be restoring a situation which all agreed would worsen matters. The Secretary General declined to take any other position.
Ambassador Eban and I then discussed what Ambassador Eban could say and, after some discussion, he outlined the following to me:
- (1)
- Israel withdraws from the Gulf of Aqaba under assurances given and envisaged by the Secretary of State’s statements of February 1 and February 24, 1957.
- (2)
- Israel withdraws its troops from the Gaza Strip.
- (3)
- UN mission is sent to Gaza to recommend measures for civilian administration, refugee relief, security, etc.
- (4)
- Israel announces its willingness to cooperate fully with the UN mission.
- (5)
- The US agrees that when Israeli forces are withdrawn from Aqaba and Gaza and Israel has agreed to a UN mission and to cooperate with it fully, Egypt cannot properly claim belligerent rights against Israel in the Gulf of Aqaba or elsewhere.
- Source: Eisenhower Library, Dulles Papers, General Telephone Conversations. Prepared by Proctor in the Department of State. The source text indicates that Dean dictated this memorandum over the telephone from New York at 9:05 a.m. on February 26. A marginal notation by Bernau indicates that Dulles saw the memorandum.↩