786.00/11–2450
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Affairs (Stabler)
Subject: Exchange of views with Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League
| Participants: | Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League |
| The Secretary | |
| NEA—Mr. McGhee | |
| NE—Mr. Stabler |
Problem:
To exchange views with Azzam Pasha on matters affecting US-Arab relations.
Action Required: To develop plans for an economic survey commission for the Arab States.
[Page 1060]Action Assigned to: NEA and TCD
Discussion:
Azzam Pasha expressed his pleasure at being received by the Secretary and by the friendly reception which he had been accorded during his visit to Washington.
1. United Nations
Azzam then went on to say that he greatly regretted the manner in which the United Nations was developing. He had hoped that the UN would be able to consider questions purely on their merits and that it would act as a supreme judge. However, the UN was the scene of power politics and it had developed along amoral rather than moral lines. He found that the United States had not taken the lead, as he had hoped it would, in following a policy based on moral principles. Instead the U.S. was following a policy of compromise and expediency and this, in his opinion, was a disservice to the world.
The Secretary said that he agreed with Azzam that the UN had not developed as many had hoped but that it was necessary to understand the basic cause. The USSR had brought into the UN an unrestrained cynicism with regard to world peace and while they maintained this attitude, it was impossible for the UN to progress towards the attainment of the high principles on which it had been originally founded.
[Here follows discussion of “Anglo-Egyptian Question”.]
3. Palestine
At this point Mr. McGhee said that he and Azzam Pasha had agreed that it was necessary for the U.S. and the Arabs to regain mutual confidence in each other. He had been glad to hear from Azzam Pasha that the Arabs believed that the Palestine problem should be “shelved” and that it should not be allowed to stand in the way of developing cooperation and mutual confidence. Azzam Pasha said that he did feel this way but that it must be realized that it would take some time for the 80,000,000 Arabs to share a similar view. This could not be accomplished over night and the U.S. would have to do something to help in resolving the Palestine question, particularly with respect to the refugees. He felt that there was much that the Arabs and the U.S. could do together and this brought him to the question of economic assistance.
[Here follows discussion on section numbered 4 on economic cooperation, which followed along the lines of section numbered 2 in Mr. Stabler’s memorandum of conversation of November 22, supra. Azzam Pasha indicated that the Arab League would be glad to invite a survey group and would cooperate with it in every way. Secretary Acheson replied that “this idea appealed to him and added that the legislation on foreign technical assistance provided for this type of venture.”]
[Page 1061]Azzam Pasha again thanked the Secretary for receiving him and took his departure.1
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Mr. McGhee, on November 28 and December 13, held further conversations with Azzam Pasha on such matters as the Arab League, economic cooperation, the Anglo-Egyptian situation, the former Italian colonies, North Africa, and Syria. Mr. McGhee’s memoranda covering these talks are not printed; they are filed under 786.00/11–2850 and 611.86/12–1350.
Azzam Pasha conferred also with Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall on November 22. The memorandum of conversation prepared by Captain G. Serpell Patrick of the Office of Foreign Military Affairs in the Department of Defense is filed under 786.00/11–2250.
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