Office of the Historian

247. Memorandum From Secretary of State Shultz to President Reagan1

Washington, August 13, 1985

1. Morocco: Whitehead Meeting with King Hassan. John Whitehead met with King Hassan on Monday.2 After presenting your letters,3 he told Hassan that our relationship is being damaged by his continuing union with Libya. Hassan acknowledged that Qadhafi’s behavior has not improved as a result of the treaty, but argued that the union is nonbinding and can be broken at any time, and that through it, he ended Libya’s involvement in the Western Sahara war. John reminded Hassan that Americans perceive Qadhafi to be the epitome of evil; therefore, popular and informed political opinion in the US about Morocco was damaged by the treaty with Libya. Hassan attempted to deemphasize the importance of the treaty, offering to explain Morocco’s position to the Congress when he is here in October. Hassan clearly understands that this issue is a major cause of concern for us. Turning to his perception of the United States Government’s role in the peace process, Hassan said that he would seek discreetly to talk to the Peres government urging greater Israeli flexibility on the composition of the Jordanian/Palestinian delegation. He believes that a meeting between such a delegation and US representatives would constitute irreversible Palestinian acceptance of UN resolutions 242 and 338. Hassan noted that he was charged by the Arab League Summit to present the results to you and Gorbachev before your November 19 meeting. Hassan plans to be in New York in October, and clearly hopes to call on you then. (SENSITIVE)

[Omitted here is material unrelated to Morocco.]

  1. Source: Reagan Library, George Shultz Papers, President’s Evening Reading July–December 1985. Secret; Sensitive.↩
  2. August 12. A record of the Whitehead-Hassan meeting is in telegram 7563 from Rabat, August 13. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, Electronic Telegrams, [no D number])↩
  3. See Document 245. Whitehead also carried a copy of the letter translated into French. See telegram 240694 to Rabat, August 6. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, Electronic Telegrams, D850558–0524)↩