142. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Egypt1
264771. For the Ambassador Only From the Secretary. Subject: Message for Sadat.
1. You should seek an appointment at the earliest possible opportunity to deliver the following letter to President Sadat from President Carter.
2. Begin text: Dear Mr. President: Ambassador Eilts has conveyed to me your tentative proposal for calling an international summit meeting to be held in Arab Jerusalem.2 I very much appreciate your trust and confidence in seeking my views on your idea prior to announcing it or discussing it with others.
3. After serious reflection, I must tell you that this public announcement may seriously complicate, rather than facilitate, the search for peace in the Middle East. Without careful and private agreement being reached that the leaders of Israel, Syria, the Soviet Union and other nations would attend, their public rejection might be embarrassing both to them and to those who would be willing to participate.
4. There is a strong possibility that the first order of real business, no matter who attends, will be procedural or structural in nature and this is the type of work which heads of state would prefer that others carry out.
5. Mr. President, my own limited experience and study of history indicate that a summit conference is often a better forum for confirming agreements previously arrived at through quiet diplomacy than for reaching new agreements, and especially when the views of participants are as divergent as they are with respect to the final terms of a Middle East peace settlement.
6. I believe that we have made good progress, and an initiative as bold as this may indicate an abandonment of the tediously evolved and fragile agreements already reached.
7. After Geneva is convened and progress is begun, your proposal could always be made at a crucial and dramatic moment to avoid failure or to consummate success.
[Page 746]8. You asked me to comment privately and frankly, Mr. President, and I have done so. In the spirit of the close personal relationship between us, I strongly hope that you will not make your proposal at this time.
9. Let me add that I am making intensive efforts to obtain agreement from all parties, and especially the Syrians, to our proposed procedures so that the Geneva Conference can open soon. With warm wishes, Sincerely, Jimmy Carter. End text.
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy File, P840072–2098. Secret; Niact Immediate; Nodis; Cherokee. Drafted and approved by Secretary Vance. Cleared by Tarnoff and Lowell Fleischer (S/S–O). Repeated immediate on November 5 to the White House.↩
- See Document 141.↩