Office of the Historian

389. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, October 25, 1957, 10:30 a.m.1

Washington, October 25, 1957, 10:30 a.m.

SUBJECT

  • Palestine

PARTICIPANTS

  • U.S.
    • The Secretary
    • The Under Secretary
    • Mr. Robert Murphy, G
    • Mr. C. Douglas Dillon, W
    • Ambassador John Hay Whitney
    • Ambassador Livingston T. Merchant [and eight officials from the Department of State]
  • U.K.
    • Mr. Selwyn Lloyd, British Foreign Secretary
    • Sir Norman Brook, Foreign Office
    • Sir William Hayter, KCMG, Foreign Office
    • Sir Harold Caccia, British Embassy
    • Viscount Samuel Hood, Minister, British Embassy [and five British officials]

The Secretary indicated that he had little to add with regard to former conversations he had had with Mr. Lloyd on Palestine. The Secretary recalled his August 1955 speech on Palestine which had been worked out in advance jointly with the British. He said we must continue to exchange views on the Palestine problem.

Mr. Selwyn Lloyd recalled recently discussing with the Secretary the draft of a possible joint US–UK statement on Palestine.2 Mr. Lloyd had agreed, he said, with the Secretary that this was not the time for such a statement. However, he believed it would be desirable to work out a common doctrine on Palestine, merely as an internal exercise, which would form the basis of a US–UK position. He suggested that the wording of such a common doctrine on Palestine be studied further.

Mr. Lloyd pointed out that according to telegrams from the British Embassy in Baghdad, Nuri Said had favored a statement by the Western powers on Palestine. Mr. Rountree said that Foreign Minister Malik had similarly urged the United States to make a statement on Palestine.3 According to Mr. Malik, the minimum requirements for such a statement would include the recommendation for a permanent [Page 775] solution to the frontier problem based on the 1947 resolution, a cessation of the present Israeli immigration policy, a solution to the Arab refugee problem, and adequate guarantees against aggression. Mr. Malik had indicated that this was the only way in which to stem the Russian propaganda campaign in the Middle East but that unless the United States statement could include all these elements, it should refrain from any statement on Palestine.

Mr. Lloyd said he had no knowledge of the Israeli plans for immigration. This, it appeared to him, was now the root of that problem and possibly should be tackled first. Mr. Rountree replied that the Israeli Government had given us their plans for immigration which included 100,000 immigrants this year and the same number next year. The Israeli Government had an open-door policy toward immigration. The Secretary agreed that the immigration question was a serious problem and the fact that the prestige of the Israeli Government was involved merely made the problem more difficult to tackle.

  1. Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 926. Secret. Drafted by Dorman.↩
  2. See Document 386.↩
  3. The memorandum of conversation between Lebanese Foreign Minister Charles Malik and Dulles, plus three others, which took place in Washington on October 17, is in Department of State, Central Files, 611.84/10–1757.↩