227. Memorandum of Conversation1

PARTICIPANTS

  • Ambassador Simcha Dinitz
  • General Brent Scowcroft, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
  • Commander Jonathan T. Howe, NSC Staff

General Scowcroft began the meeting by reading the agreed text of a resolution which the U.S. and the Soviet Union had jointly agreed to submit to the Security Council that evening. General Scowcroft pointed out that the resolution:

—Leaves all Israeli forces in-place.

—Contains no reference to withdrawal, only a general reference to Resolution 242.

—Calls for direct negotiations between parties with joint U.S./Soviet auspices to facilitate.

—Includes a joint U.S./Soviet commitment to use maximum influence to bring about an exchange of prisoners.

General Scowcroft indicated that a call for a Security Council meeting would be initiated at 6:00 p.m. that evening. The only response made by the Ambassador was that the timetable was very tight.2

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 136, Country Files, Middle East, Dinitz, June 4–October 31, 1973. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in Kissinger’s office in the White House.
  2. In telegram Hakto 14/Secto 18/13148 from Moscow, October 21, 2105Z, Kissinger instructed Scowcroft to urgently call in Dinitz and extend the Secretary’s profoundest apologies for the “four hour communications breakdown, which resulted in telescoping of advance notice Israelis got of Security Council initiative.” He added that under the circumstances, the United States would understand if the Israelis felt they required some additional time for military dispositions before the cease-fire took effect, although they were still shooting for a 12-hour time span between the Security Council decision and the beginning of the cease-fire. (Ibid., Box 39, Kissinger Trip Files, HAK Trip—Moscow, Tel Aviv, London, HAKTO, SECTO, TOSEC, Misc. Oct. 20–23, 1973)