867N.01/9–3044
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Murray)14
This Military Attaché report from Beirut15 is of considerable interest as illustrating the effect which continued tension in Arab-Jewish [Page 615] relations will have, not only upon the local situation in the Near East, but also upon the relationship between Soviet Russia on the one hand and Great Britain and the United States on the other.
The report summarizes a conversation which the Assistant Military Attaché16 had with the Assistant Chief of the British Security Mission for Syria and Lebanon,17 who made the following points:
- 1.
- Continued unrest between Arabs and Jews affects not only the local situation but the over-all relationship between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and Soviet Russia on the other. The Arabs, suspecting that Great Britain and, to a larger extent, the United States may have “sold out” to world Zionism, are turning to the Soviet. More significantly, Russia is reciprocating as shown again by the recent recognition of Syria and Lebanon. It is to be noted that the Russian representative in the Levant States will reside in Moslem Damascus rather than in Christian Beirut.
- 2.
- Fundamentally the Arabs and Jews get on well together, and their hostility toward each other has been caused by the mistaken Allied policy of over-emphasizing Jewish aims.
- 3.
- The United States and Britain should give their strong support to movements for Arab-Jewish rapprochement such as that of Dr. Magnes, of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, so as to give full rein to the creative qualities of both peoples.
- 4.
- If such a policy is not followed, the extremists in both camps will gain control, and an equitable solution will then be impossible.
This report is just one of many indications which we continue to receive regarding the present tension in the Near East, and its implications for the future.