305. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson1
SUBJECT
- Letter to King Faisal
We’ve had reports that King Faisal feels we’ve been ignoring him in the swirl of negotiations that put the UN representative in the field.
He was in New York in 1948 when Israel became independent, and ever since he has deeply felt that we’ve taken Israel’s side. Against that background, he can’t understand our present position except as our digging in alongside Israel again.
The best we can hope for is to keep reassuring him that we have his concerns in mind and are trying to start an honest negotiation that will give Arab interests a fair hearing. The attached letter tells him we think the November 22 UN resolution2 provides a good framework for a fair settlement.
[Page 585]Secretary Rusk has instructed our ambassadors in all the Arab countries to take a similar line with each of the Arab foreign ministers before their meeting this weekend, but Faisal is worth a little extra personal attention. We will shortly be recommending to you a letter to Eshkol urging him also to give the UN representative full cooperation.
The attached is for your signature if you approve.3
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Special Head of State Correspondence File, Saudi Arabia—Presidential Correspondence. Secret.↩
- For text of UN Security Council Resolution 242, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1967, pp. 616-617.↩
- See Document 306.↩