300. Letter From the Israeli Ambassador to the United States (Evron) to President Carter1
I have been asked by Prime Minister Begin to transmit to you the following message:
“Dear Mr. President,
I am taking the liberty of writing to you on an issue that is of great importance to Israel.
On March 26, 1979, the day of the signing of the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, you were kind enough to forward to me the following letter and enclosure:
‘Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
On the basis of my discussions today with President Sadat and you, I attach a summary of my understanding of the results of those discussions.
Sincerely’
‘1. Israel will withdraw from Southern Sinai and restore to Egypt the exercise of its sovereignty over that area, and over all the adjacent oil fields in the Gulf of Suez, two months before completion of full Israeli withdrawal to the interim Al-Arish-Ras Muhammad line.
2. Egypt will take the necessary steps to insure that oil from those oil fields will be made available for purchase by Israel on an on-going basis, at the world market price current at the time of transfer, from the time of Israeli relinquishment of the fields.
3. The Government of Israel will make all arrangements for the transportation of oil in question.’
During our successful meeting in Haifa,2 President Sadat and I discussed, inter alia, the issue of oil supply and we reached full agreement on the question of quantity, namely two million tons per-anum. With respect to the matter of ‘world market price’ mentioned in your letter I proposed to President Sadat that we agree on the average price, neither the lowest nor the highest. President Sadat, however, preferred to leave this concrete question to the discussions between our respective Ministers. Our colleagues, Minister Hilal of Egypt and Minister Modai of Israel met again last week but without reaching agreement. The Egyptian Minister of petroleum maintained the principle that Egypt will decide [Page 977] on a quarterly basis the price of oil to be supplied, guided by its own sole considerations, as is its practice with other customers. In other words, no a-priori criteria will be determined for ‘the world market price current at the time of transfer’. This would mean that Israel may be faced with totally arbitrary prices that could even reach the level of the so-called spot-market. Such a situation is, of course, unthinkable considering the understanding contained in your letter to me which resulted from consultations with President Sadat and myself on the eve of the signing of the Peace Treaty.
It is for this reason that I turn to you, Mr. President, with the urgent request that you appoint an energy expert, a representative of the United States Government, to establish the necessary criteria whereby to determine ‘the world market price’. I express the hope that this approach will be acceptable to you and will meet with the approval of President Sadat, thereby resolving this important outstanding matter.
I thank you, Mr. President, for your kind consideration and assistance.
Yours respectfully and sincerely,
Menachem Begin”
Sincerely yours,
Ambassador
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Office, Presidential Advisory Board, Box 77, Sensitive X: 1–3/79. Secret.↩
- See Document 288 and footnote 2 thereto.↩