Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1957, Volume XVII
  4. Document 164

164. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, February 27, 1957,4 p.m.1

Washington, February 27, 1957,4 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Israeli Withdrawal

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Secretary of State
  • Christian Pineau, French Foreign Minister
  • H. Alphand, French Ambassador
  • Mr. Rountree, Assistant Secretary
  • Mr. Wilcox, Assistant Secretary
  • Mr. Phleger, Legal Adviser
  • Mr. J. W. Jones, Deputy Asst. Secretary

The French Foreign Minister and the French Ambassador called on the Secretary at 4 this afternoon with the latest suggested modifications by the Israeli Embassy of the unilateral declaration to be made by the Israeli government.2 There were four specific modifications of the earlier draft which the Secretary and the Foreign Minister considered and after some discussion agreed generally to accept.

M. Pineau said that the Israeli Embassy had suggested that an effort be made to obtain Mr. Hammarskjold’s agreement to the implementation of the arrangements following the Israeli declaration. The Secretary replied that it was not practical to attempt to obtain a new agreement with Mr. Hammarskjold and expressed the opinion that since this was a unilateral declaration on the part of the Israeli government, it did not require the approval or even the comments of the Secretary General of the UN. M. Pineau said that in any event he would like to talk to Mr. Hammarskjold about this development in New York tomorrow and that the best that might be expected would be that the Secretary General would remain silent following the release of the Israeli announcement. At M. Pineau’s request the Secretary promised to telephone Mr. Hammarskjold before the French Foreign Minister approaches him in New York.

The Secretary and the Foreign Minister then discussed procedure and agreed that if the Israeli government approved of the declaration, Mrs. Meir would make the announcement in the General Assembly of the UN to be followed by the statements of the American and French UN representatives. The French Ambassador asked whether it would be desirable to inform the British of the Franco-American efforts with the Israelis. The Secretary replied that once the decision had been [Page 306] made by the Israeli government to issue the declaration, it might be useful for the French and American representatives to get in touch with other delegations at the UN to obtain their support. The Secretary expressed his satisfaction with the progress that had been made.

At this point Mr. Phleger and Mr. Wilcox left to meet with the Israeli Minister-Counselor to reach agreement directly with him on the final draft of the Israeli declaration.

The Secretary and the Foreign Minister then turned to the last and still incomplete paragraph of the Mollet–Eisenhower communiqué (paragraph 3) dealing with the Middle East and the Suez problem. The Secretary dictated a proposed paragraph in the Foreign Minister’s presence which was finally agreed by the two Foreign Ministers. The communiqué was then considered completed and ready for release early tomorrow morning.3

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 674.84A/2–2757. Secret. Drafted by Jones.↩
  2. The declaration concerned the Israeli position on transit through the Gulf of Aqaba. Its text is in footnote 2, infra.↩
  3. For text of the joint U.S.-French statement released at the end of the Mollet visit, see Department of State Bulletin, March 18, 1957, pp. 438–439.↩