174. Notes of the Secretary of State’s Staff Meeting, Department of State, Washington, March 1, 1957, 9:15 a.m.1
[Here follows an intelligence briefing by Armstrong.]
2. Palestine Situation—The Secretary discussed his preoccupation yesterday with this subject; Mrs. Meir’s statement planned for 3 p.m. this afternoon; Lodge’s proposed statement to follow Mrs. Meir. He said that the Israelis were to withdraw without commitment or expectation beyond what the Secretary General had in his report or was in the aide-mémoire. He remarked upon the Arab objections which now are being vociferously voiced even though they were strongly supporting our actions when it was leading to troubles with Israel. He noted the danger that the Egyptians might now withdraw the assurances previously given on the acceptability of the UNEF moving into Gaza and the straits: the Egyptian acquiescences, he felt, would need to be continuous and that there would be real danger if Egypt repudiated its earlier assurances. He mentioned that he was seeing the Arab Ambassadors at 11 this morning and might experience difficulty in convincing them that there had not been any “deal” with Israel as the Russian propaganda is now suggesting.
[Here follows discussion of unrelated subjects.]
- Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Staff Meetings: Lot 63 D 75. Secret. Drafted by Howe.↩