SECRETARY ROGERS' MEMO ON YOUR TALK WITH EBAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
• Release Decision: RIFLIM
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: May 22, 1970
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
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MEMORANI]UIvf ~ ~,vs
THE WHITE HOUSE
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IT~TFORMATION .10430
SEGRET' / NODIS
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
FROM: Hen.xy A. Kissinger
2.Z NG~ l97?
SUBJECT; Secretary Rogers' Mema an Yaux Talk with Eban
Attached is Secretary Rogers' memo promised 1:0 you earlier.
He recommends, as did my eaxli~er mezxzo, that you seek to accomplish
the. fallowing;
1. Reassure Israel sufficiently to keep the lid on in our
bilateral relations and to damp down pressures in the
meantime fax an immediate aircraft decision.
2. ;Convey to Eban a picture of the hard political decisions
we face and get the Israelis thinking about the possibility that
they face some hard political decisions of their own if present
dangerous trends in the Middle East are to be reversed.
He suggests telling Eban exactly where the aircraft decision stands
bureaucratically: Your principal advisers have already had a number
of meetings within the NSC framework. Tentatively, this process
should be completed in. the next 2-3 waeks.
He .would stop short of offering more aircraft, using the following
formula;
''We understand Tsxael's anxiety and its need to be certain
..about future sources of aircraft and other rnilitaxy supply.
We are continuing the pipeline of general logistical support.
Once the NSC review is completed, wP plan to focus with Israel
an the question of additional or replacement aircraft to which
.Secretary Rogers referred in his March 23rd .statement. Israel
can be assured that its source of aircraft will not be cut off. ~~
SECRET/NQDIS
ON-FILE NSC RELEASE
INSTRUCTIONS APPLY
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SECRET / NODIS
He suggests talking to Eban about the need fox both the U. S. and
Israel to re-appraise the assumptions underlying their strategies:
"The United States for its part, in addition to its
commitment to Israel's suxvival, has a national xespoza,si'bility
to maintain a stxong position in the Arab world. We sea no
way of xecancili~g these two aspects of US interests other
than through a peaceful, settlement of the Arab-Israali conflict.
This may not pxove possible. The challenge now facing us is
how Israel and the US can together work out a strategy which
wi11 reconcile aux camunitxnent to Is xael's security with our
need to avoid being pxagxessively eliminated from the Arab
wo r1d. "
SECRET / NUllIS
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S/S - 75p1 SECRET/NODIS
May 21, 197p
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
Subject; Israeli Foreign Minister Eban's Call
on You Friday, May 22, l~.:15 a.m.
Foreign Minister Eban is here far talks following
an official visit to Canada and will call on you Friday
morning. r expect that he will take much the same line
with. you as he did with me on Wednesday and as Prime
,Minister Meir did with Ambassador Barbour ('summaries
o~ those conversations are enclosed as Enclosures 2 and
3).
The main thrust o~ Eban's approach has been that
the .Soviets will continue to expand their military
activa,ties in support of the UAR and that this will con-
stitute a growing threat to Israel's existence unless
the. United States takes firm action to get them to stop.
In Israel"s view, the United States should therefore
immediately grant Israe~.`s request for aircraft and in
addition should make unequivocally clear to the Soviets
. that it stands behind Israel and will not tolerate any
extension of the Soviet ma_litary a.nvolvement.
Together with Defense, CIA, and the NSC staff, we
have been actively analyzing Israel's aircraft request
in the light of recent Soviet moves and in the context
of our overall political and strategic interests in the
Middle East. This analysis includes an examination of
the impJ.ications of a decision on the aircraft question
for US-Soviet, US-Arab and US-Israeli relations and for
the prospects of a peaceful settlement in the area.
Concurrently and as part of this exercise, the re-evaluation
of the military balance which you ordered is naw virtually
complete.
We plan to have ready for NSC considerata.on within
the next two vreeks a review of alternative strategic s
SECRET/NODIS
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SECRET/NODIS
for dealing with the Middle East situation, including
Israel`s aircraft request, which will range from a) the
kind of firm military response the Israelis are urging
to b) new political initiatives by us directly with the
parties designed to get the cease fire restored and a
negoriating process started between them. If we go the
latter route it will involve difficult efforts by us to
get Israel to move toward political positions we have
long advocated as necessary to generate progress toward
a settlement. What we do far Israel on the aircraft
question, and how we do it, will depend on what strategy
we .choose to follow. Meanwhile, I believe it is important
to keep :our political and military options open with
Israel until we have completed the full NSC review.
In your meeting with Eban, we recommend that you
seek to accomplish the fallowing;.
1. Reassure Israel sufficiently to keep the lid
on in .our bilateral relations and to damp down
pressures; in the meantime for an~immediate aircraft
decision.
2. Canvey to Eban a picture of the hard political
decisions we face and get the Israelis thinking
about th.e possibility that they face some hard
political decisions of their own if present dangerous
trends iri the Middle East are to be reversed.
Suggested talking paints are attached at Enclosure
1 for your use with Eban.
William P. Ragers
].. Suggested talking points.
2. Summary of my talk with Eban (State 7755.4 EXDIS).
3. Summary of Ambassador Barbour's talk
with Mrs. Meir (Tel Aviv 2564 EXDIS).
SECRET/NODIS
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 . .. ..
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SECRET/NODIS
VISIT OF FOREIGN MINISTER EBAN
TALKING POINTS
Despite the pressures of developments in Southeast
Asia, we want the Israelis tci know that their and
our concerns about the Middle East are receiving
active attention.
-- We view recent Soviet moves in the area as extremely
,serious'; they have created an entirely new dimension
'of problem. We have made cleax to the Soviets and
will continue to do so that they have ,embarked on a
potentially dangerous commitment which we cannot ignore.
'We want the Israelis to know exactly where we stand
in our review of this problem and of their aircraft
request. Your principal advisers have already had
a number of meetings within the NSC framework.
Tentatively we anticipate that this zeview and
decisions based upon it should be completed in the
next two or three weeks, although we cannot give any
hard and fast timetable.
It is extremely important to keep .the military situation
from deteriorating in the meantime. To the extent that
.this a.s in Israel's hands, we urge .,continuation of the '
restraint they have shown. vis--a-vis the Soviet presence,
which we have noted and commend. We see no clear
signs that the Soviets axe assuming a more forward
'role in the UAR, although this aspect must obviously
be watched.
Our present review includes a re-evaluation of the
.military balance in light of the Soviet role and of
current information on Arab force strengths. Israel
may be assured that we will stand by our undertaking.
n:ot to permit the balance to shift against it. We
do not believe this has happened so far, but we are
also looking at future trends. It must be recognized,
however, that if the Soviets are to be an increasing
SECRET/NODIS
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
SECRET/NODIS
and potentially open-ended factor in the mi~.itary
balance, the problem becomes much more complicated
and dangerous than it would be in a purely Arab-
Israeli context.
--- We understand Israel's anxiety and its need to be
certain about future sources of aircraft and other
military supgiiy. We are continuing the pipeline of
general logistical support. Once-the NSC review is
completed, we plan to focus with Israel on the
question. of. additional. or replacement aircraft to
which Secretary Rogers referred in his March 23rd
stater~ent.? Israel can be assured that its source
of aircraft will not be cut off.
-- Given the new Soviet involvement and the challenge
posed to our interests by President Nasser, we are
.looking at Israel's aircraft request in the context
of the wholo interrelated complex of Middle East
questions. We face as critical a set of decisions
on the Middle East as we have ever had to deal with,
and we want to share with Israel some of the con-
siderations which are on our minds.
-- It seems to us that Israel and the United States are
presently on a course whose prospects look bleak for
both our. interests. In the no-peace situation now
existing, we have seen an escalation from the break-
down of the cease fire on Nasser's initiative, to
the xsraeli response of deep penetration raids against
Egypt, to the Soviet response of sending in SAM-3's
and .pilots. Meanwhile the fedayeen, the Syrians, and
_ other extremist elements are paralyzing the moderate
governments in Lebanon and .Jordan. Even King Faisal
is increasingly hard pressed, which can inhibit his
ability to play a constructive role with Iran in the
Persian Gulf.
In the circumstances, before going further down this
road, both Israel and we need to reappraise the
assumptions underlying our present strategies. As
we See it, Israel and the United States have important
overlapping interests, which include Israel's survival
and keeping the Soviets from acquiring a stronger
position in the ..area.
SECRET/NODI$
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
SECRET/NODIS
The United States for its part, in addition to its
commitment to Israel's survival, ha.s a national
responsibility to maintain a stl-vng position in the
Arab world. we see no way of reconciling these t~~To
aspects of US interests other than through a peaceful
settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This may
not prove possible in the end, since. it depends not
only on the United States and Israel but also. upon
the Arabs and, to a considerable but not absolute
.extent, on the USSR. The challenge now facing us
is how Israel and the US can together work out a
strategy which will reconcile our commitment ta.
Israel's security, which has top priority for both
of us, with Our need to avoid being progressively
eliminated from the Arab world, which a.s admittedly
of greater importance to the US than it is to Israel.
As we complete our current policy review, we urge that
Israel give imaginative thought to possible political
alternatives to the present dangerous military trend
in the. area.
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
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No Ub~ection to ueclassitication in ru!! ZU1U~U~~14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0 .
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 ;_ No Objection to Declassification in Full 2010/07/14 : LOC-HAK-290-3-15-0
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