189. Message From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to the Ambassador to Israel (Lewis)1
WH80101. Embassy Tel Aviv: For delivery immediately upon opening of business.
Please deliver the following message from the President to Prime Minister Begin at the earliest opportunity.
Begin text:
Dear Mr. Prime Minister:
Thank you for your response to my message of January 7.2 As you know, the position of the United States has been consistent on the issue of Israeli settlements in territory occupied in the 1967 war. We publicly articulated our position as early as September 26, 1967.3 On numerous occasions since that time, United States representatives have expressed the disapproval of, and opposition to, the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories on the grounds that these actions contravene the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, to which Israel is a signatory, and also that these actions are prejudicial to the achievement of a Middle East peace settlement. As concerns this latter point, we have mentioned that settlements in themselves convey at the very least the impression of permanence of Israeli occupation which clearly is not conducive to creating the appropriate atmosphere for productive peace negotiations. It must be recognized that, if considered as permanent and under Israeli military protection, the settlements per se are inconsistent with Security Council Resolution 242 which is the only framework for negotiations and which clearly envisages Israeli military withdrawals in exchange for peace.
I must tell you frankly that I can see no substantive difference, so far as the impact on the peace process is concerned, between establishing new settlements in the Sinai and increasing the numbers of settlers in existing settlements and extending the land used by the existing settlements. As concerns the discussions with Foreign Minister Dayan [Page 925] in September 1977,4 we clearly understood him to say that your government would limit new settlement activity in all the occupied territories to the eight existing military installations described by the Foreign Minister for a period of one year, that is until September 1978, rather than only for three months. He said “one year from now, there will be no new civilian settlements, there will only be settlers in uniform in military camps.” This is, obviously, significantly different from our current understanding of your plans.
Our mutual attention, and that of the entire world in the past few months, has been riveted on the dramatic prospectives for peace which President Sadat and you initiated in November. You have embarked on the path to real peace for your people and the entire area. As you know, I am firmly convinced that we must not allow this momentum for peace to be lost. I well recognize the necessity to achieve a consensus for bold new policies in a democratic society. I am genuinely concerned, however, that the most recent developments concerning settlements may set back the cause of peace by making more difficult the Jerusalem and Cairo meetings. It would be particularly regrettable if a serious setback to the current peace process were to be perceived as a result of Israeli action on settlements.
Your government has said that no settlement would be permitted to become a real obstacle to peace, and I continue to rely on that assurance. I wish to note in this respect that in our meeting on September 19, Foreign Minister Dayan stated, “Settlements will not decide boundaries, and if a settlement is beyond our final borders, it will either be removed or we will get agreement with our neighbors.”
In closing, Mr. Prime Minister, let me assure you that Cy Vance in Jerusalem will be prepared to use our good offices in any way possible to help ensure that the required momentum in the peace process is maintained. You have my admiration, my faith and my confidence.
Sincerely yours,
Jimmy Carter
End text.
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Middle East File, Subject File, Box 8, Backchannel Messages: Middle East: 2/77–1/78. Secret; Sensitive.↩
- See footnote 2, Document 188.↩
- On September 26, 1967, a State Department spokesman criticized Israel for announcing plans to send settlers into territories Israel had seized during the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The official also noted that this Israeli policy would conflict with President Johnson’s June 19 speech in which he had called for the territorial integrity of all states in the Middle East. (Hedrick Smith, “U.S. Chides Israel on Settler Program,” New York Times, September 27, 1967, p. 1)↩
- A reference to Carter’s meeting with Dayan on September 19, 1977. See Docu-ment 106.↩