867N.01/10–1046: Telegram
The British Prime Minister (Attlee) to President Truman 77
urgent
[Received 11:17 p.m.]
Personal and Top Secret.
Dear Mr. President: When just on midnight last night I received the text of your proposed statement on Palestine, I asked you at least to postpone its issue for a few hours in order that I might communicate with Mr. Bevin in Paris. He has been handling the difficult negotiations with Jews and Arabs to arrive at a solution of this very complicated problem.
[Page 705]I have received with great regret your letter refusing even a few hours grace to the Prime Minister of the country which has the actual responsibility for the government of Palestine in order that he might acquaint you with the actual situation and the probable results of your action. These may well include the frustration of the patient efforts to achieve a settlement and the loss of still more lives in Palestine.
I am astonished that you did not wait to acquaint yourself with the reasons for the suspension of the conference with the Arabs. You do not seem to have been informed that so far from negotiations having been broken off, conversations with leading Zionists with a view to their entering the conference were proceeding with good prospects of success.
I shall await with interest to learn what were the imperative reasons which compelled this precipitancy.
Yours sincerely,
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the White House.↩