Office of the Historian

262.84A41/9–2252

No. 490
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Officer in Charge of Palestine–Israel–Jordan Affairs (Waller)

confidential
[Washington,] September 22, 1952.

Subject:

  • Visit by Ambassador Eban regarding: (1) The Israel–German Reparations Agreement; (2) Israel-Arab Relations.

Participants:

  • The Secretary
  • Ambassador Abba Eban, Israel Embassy
  • Minister David Goitein, Israel Embassy
  • Mr. Waller—NE

The Israel Ambassador at his own request called on the Secretary at 11:30 this morning. He was accompanied by Minister David Goitein. The subjects discussed fall within the following general headings:

1.
The Israel–German Reparations Agreement
2.
Israel–Arab Relations

With regard to the Israel-German Reparations Agreement, the Ambassador said he was under instructions from his government to express to the Secretary appreciation for the sympathetic assistance given by the Secretary and his staff in bringing about the agreement which was recently signed at Luxembourg. He said that his government is aware that without this assistance the agreement would not have been possible. The Secretary replied that he felt he had been able to be helpful and he was glad the negotiations were successful. He praised Chancellor Adenauer for his receptiveness and for his tenacity in pursuing the matter to its conclusion.

The Ambassador said that the next step would be to obtain ratification of the agreement by the German Bundestag which he understood would be meeting October. So far as Israel is concerned the [Page 1003] agreement will become effective as soon as ratified by the Bundestag because the Israel government does not require further legislative authorization. He hoped that the Secretary might find an opportunity to encourage Chancellor Adenauer to obtain a quick ratification of agreement. The Secretary replied that he felt that the sooner the agreement was submitted to the Bundestag the better it would be and he felt there was no reason to doubt that it would be ratified. The pressure from the Arab States under the threat of an economic boycott of German goods would not in his opinion deter the German government from proceeding with the ratification arrangements. The Secretary said that now that the Israel-German Agreement had been reached he hoped Israel would take up the matter of compensation to the Arabs for their property in Israel. Ambassador Eban then related the view of the government of Israel that this question has three phases; namely, (1) to assess the basis for compensation; (2) to determine the size of the debt; and (3) to pay the debt. The latter, in the opinion of the Ambassador, would be the most difficult. Israel is quite willing to move forward on this problem even though the means of payment cannot now be foreseen.

With regard to Arab-Israel relations, Ambassador Eban informed the Secretary of Israel’s analysis of the present regime in Egypt, describing it as a great improvement over the former government. The Ambassador said that Israel had made an approach to the Egyptian government but that a reply had not been received. (Note: Ambassador Eban was apparently uninformed regarding the Egyptian reply—see Tel Aviv’s telegram no. 451, dated September 17.)1 Nevertheless, the absence of a negative reply and the absence of statements by responsible Egyptian officials denouncing Israel is a good sign. The Secretary replied that he was mildly optimistic at the turn of events in Egypt and he felt that the atmosphere towards Israel was much better than it has been heretofore.

The Ambassador then turned to Syria and a discussion of Arab items on the agenda of the UN General Assembly. He expressed regret that the Arab States have taken no step toward direct negotiations for the settlement of outstanding problems with Israel, and pointed out the inconsistency of this lack of effort and the placement of items on the agenda of the UN General Assembly which call for a discussion of the problem by the General Assembly. The Secretary replied that there really was nothing to say on this subject as the Ambassador’s logic was evident. One could only wait to see what use might be made of it. He hoped that the discussions [Page 1004] would take place without rancor and that moderation would be shown by both sides.

  1. Telegram 448 from Tel Aviv, Sept. 17, was originally numbered 451; for text, see Document 488.↩