יומנים > יומן - מלא 23/09/1948

Thursday, September 23, 1948

This morning I drafted my remarks to the State Council. The hope I expressed at the end of my remarks - that all the parties would help us eradicate terrorism - was realized in the Council: the terrorism law was accepted unanimously. Admittedly there's a distance, sometimes not long [apparently should be: not short], from theory to practice.

       - From [Abba] Eban there arrived an important and worrying cable (dated September 22, from Paris): On that day [he] was summoned to [British Minister of State] McNeil and told on behalf of [Foreign Secretary] Bevin officially: A) England supports the arrangement proposed by the mediator and will take this approach in the [UN General] Assembly. B) He's not waiting for support from either side (Jewish or Arab), but he expects acceptance of the arrangement that will ultimately be recommended. C) He'll support the harshest resolution in the Security Council against any side that tries to counter the Assembly's recommendations by military force. He added, unofficially but with "complete certainty" - that an arrangement along these lines will immediately lead to de jure recognition on England's part and a recommendation to other nations to take the same action.

       Eban replied that he would convey this important declaration [to the government] and at this stage would only respond on the personal level: [Eban] turned [their] attention to the Negev, presented a map, emphasized 3 sites: the northern [Negev] settlements, ''Aqaba [Eilat], and the Dead Sea as a vital interest. McNeil expressed sympathy only for the first site. Eban added that accepting [Bernadotte's] report in principle does not necessitate inflexible adherence to the territorial details. McNeil replied that it would not be fair on his part to instill hope, except when it comes to changes of a secondary nature. (McNeil) concluded by expressing his personal opinion that normal relations between us and England are a vital British interest. He expressed willingness to receive Eban at any time without formality. England will propose a special committee to discuss Eretz Israel, and then the Italian colonies. Each clause will be allocated a maximum of 4 weeks [in the UN General Assembly].