MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION
December 12, 1949
SUBJECT: Jordan's Attitude on Jerusalem and the Palestine Settlement
PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary Fawzi Pasha el Mulki - Jordan Defense Minister ANE - Mr. Stabler
COPIES TO: Cairo, Jidda, Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, London, CIA, USUN, DRN, NEA, ANE, S/S
Problem: The Jordan Defense Minister presented a letter from the King to the President and expressed the views of his Government regarding Jerusalem and Palestine settlement.
Action Required: None
Action Assigned to: ---
Discussion: Fawzi Pasha el Mulki called on me at his request this afternoon in order to present a letter from King Abdullah addressed to the President. In presenting the letter, Fawzi Pasha said the King held the President in high esteem and had great admiration for the United States. I thanked Fawzi Pasha for the letter and said I would bring it to the President's attention.
Fawzi Pasha then referred to the Resolution of
December 9, 1949 regarding the internationalism of Jerusalem. He stated that the views of his Government had been made known by him to the United Nations. Since the adoption of the Resolution he had not received any further word from the King, but he could assume that there has been no change of attitude. Fawzi Pasha expressed the hope that the Trusteeship Council would not proceed with its work without taking into account the views of the parties most directly concerned. He thought the situation would be most difficult if the Council should adopt a plan hastily and then find it had no way to implement it.
He then mentioned the President's message to the King of March 28, 1949 in which the President referred to the statement made by Dr. Jessup before the United Nations on November 20, 1948. Fawzi Pasha reviewed the situation which led to this message and said that his Government regarded Dr. Jessup's statement as its policy with respect to territorial settlement. Fawzi Pasha referred to the Protocol of May 12, 1949 which was signed at Lausanne and said that he was now aware that Israel had only signed it under pressure of its desire to be admitted to the United Nations. He knew that it had no intention of abiding by the Protocol. Fawzi Pasha expressed the belief that it was necessary to move forward towards a final agreement. He said that the Palestine Conciliation Commission was meeting in Geneva in January but he was not sanguine that Jordan would be represented in view of the fact that the Commission had accomplished nothing to date.
Fawzi Pasha said that he had not mentioned the refugee question as his Government had informed Mr. Clapp that it was willing to cooperate with respect to the refugees in order that the problem might be resolved. He said there should be no difficulty with respect to the right of those refugees desiring to return to their homes to do so. However, notwithstanding this aspect of the situation Jordan recognized the necessity for collaborating with the United Nations on the settlement of the refugee question.
I told Fawzi Pasha that I understood that negotiations were now proceeding between Jordan and Israel and there appeared to be some hope of a successful outcome. I stated that I thought that another meeting was to take place soon. Mr. Stabler stated that this meeting had been postponed and Fawzi Pasha said it had been agreed to postpone it pending the return to Israel of Mr. Sharett. Fawzi Pasha said that quite frankly he had not been advised officially of the progress of those negotiations but did know indirectly that they were proceeding.
With respect to Jerusalem, I discussed briefly our position on the question and then indicated it was our hope that both parties would be able to review their attitudes and see whether they could not move in a direction which would make possible the ending of the present impasse and the adoption of some plan which was acceptable to all. It seemed essential that the parties "keep the door open" and not refuse to cooperate. I said that if the two parties did refuse to cooperate, the Trusteeship Council might be obligated to adopt a statute which would be very hard to implement. Mr. Stabler then stated that it was possible that the Trusteeship Council would invite the two parties to state their views before the Trusteeship Council in order to assist in drawing up a plan. If such an invitation were issued, it would be important that the parties make an endeavor to assist the Council in its work.
Fawzi Pasha then reverted to the question of final settlement and said he hoped that the United States would use its influence with Israel to reach a settlement along the lines of the formula enunciated by Dr. Jessup.
I said that I would, of course, bear this in mind. However, I pointed out that it might be somewhat difficult for the United States to do very much along those lines in view of our participation in the Palestine Conciliation Commission.
Fawzi Pasha again expressed appreciation for the interview and the meeting ended.
NEA:ANE;WStabler:hbh 12/13/49