199. Letter From the Secretary of State to the Representative at the United Nations (Lodge)1
Dear Mr. Ambassador: You have asked me to set forth the position which the United States has taken in discussions with Israeli representatives with respect to certain aspects of the statement concerning Gaza made at the General Assembly by the Israeli Foreign Minister on March 1.
In her statement, Mrs. Meir set forth certain assumptions, hopes and expectations in connection with the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in accordance with the General Assembly Resolution (1) of February 2. She also stated, but not as an “assumption or expectation” that “it is the position of Israel that if conditions are created in the Gaza Strip which indicate a return to the conditions of deterioration which existed previously, Israel would reserve its freedom to act to defend its rights”.
In your own statement of that date, you took note of the declarations by Mrs. Meir and stated that “For the most part, the declarations constitute, as we understand, restatements of what has already been said by this Assembly or by the Secretary General in his reports, or hopes and expectations which seem to us not unreasonable in the light of the prior actions of this Assembly”.
Following this session of the General Assembly, the Ambassador of Israel discussed with me on March 2 and March 3 the extent to which the United States would support or understand Israel’s position with respect to the circumstances in which Israel would feel that it had the right to act under Mrs. Meir’s declaration quoted above. In these discussions with the Israeli Ambassador there was an often expressed desire on the part of his Government that the United States should in some way acquiesce in the view that Israel’s “rights” would include the right forcibly to reoccupy the Gaza Strip if Egyptian administration recurred in any form or to any degree. I constantly made it clear that the United States could not accept this thesis. We naturally could not object to Israel in the future exercising its “rights” but we refused to agree in advance as to what its rights might be under various hypothetical conditions. We adhered scrupulously to the position set out by you in your statement that “It is the view of the United States that from a juridical standpoint the future of the Gaza Strip must, as the Secretary General said, be worked out within the framework of the Armistice Agreement.
[Page 376]“Obviously these matters are not for the United States alone to decide, but the United States can, I think, properly entertain the hope that such a useful role for the United Nations and its appropriate subsidiary bodies as the Secretary General has described could usefully continue until there is a definitive settlement respecting the Gaza Strip or some final general agreement between the parties.”
I also recall your statement as follows:
“If, following the Israeli withdrawal, there should be any recurrence of hostilities or any violation by either party of its international obligations, including those of the Armistice Agreement, this would create a situation for United Nations consideration. The United States would consult with other members of the United Nations to consider appropriate action which they or the United Nations might take with the object of restoring peace and harmonious relations in conformity with the principles of justice and international law.”
I steadfastly informed the Ambassador that I felt the matter should be left to stand as described in various public documents, notably your speech in the General Assembly of March 1 and the President’s letter of March 2 to Prime Minister Ben Gurion in which he said with respect to the hopes and expectations voiced in the speech of the Foreign Minister of Israel and others based on resolutions of the General Assembly: “I believe that it is reasonable to entertain such hopes and expectations and I want you to know that the United States as a friend of all the countries of the area and as a loyal member of the United Nations will seek that such hopes prove not in vain.”
Sincerely yours,