Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXI, Near East Region; Arabian Peninsula

432. Memorandum From Harold H. Saunders of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)¹

Washington, April 6, 1967.

WWR:

Secretary Rusk specifically asked that the attached cables² be cleared with you.

They put Ray Hare in business to try his hand at mediating the Saudi-UAR dispute over Yemen.

Both Faisal and Nasser have accepted Hare’s mediation. Faisal threw out some tentative conditions, but the idea is to use the terms of reference to negotiate them out.

As far as we know, the Secretary simply wants you to know that we’re formally launching this operation. No one expects you to dig into the details (look OK to us). He mentioned our mediation earlier to the President and did not ask for his clearance on these.

I’m glad to see us make this try, though I think the odds are against success. We have to keep trying to keep peace among the Arabs because a fight would either draw us in or force us to renege on our commitments. This may give them a face-saving way to back off from a confrontation, which they do seem to want to avoid. We’re not excited about Hare since he’s pretty passive, but the UAR picked him and he’s persona grata in Riyadh.

Recommend you clear. A call to S/S will do the trick unless you have questions.³

Hal

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, United Arab Republic, Vol. V, Memos. Secret.
2. Not attached. Presumably reference is to telegrams 170451 to Jidda and Cairo, 170460 to Jidda, and 170459 to Cairo; see Document 433.
3. Saunders hand wrote the last sentence of this paragraph. Handwritten notations on the memorandum read: “OK. WR” and “S/S informed by phone April 7. BKS.”