Aug - This document consists of Number Z of opies meim NA 1 i La SECRETARY TOP SECRET 9 Completely Clea-sensitized Transferred to 7 May 11 1963 To The Secretary Through 8981 From NEA James Grant Subject White House Concern with Arab-Israeli Matters In recent weeks as you are aware it has become increasingly clear that its White Hawaii pressure to East more consonant with Israeli WThe Israelis are determined to use the period between now and the 1964 Presidential elections to secure a closer more public security relationship with the United States notably through a public security guarantee and a cooler more antagonistic relationship between the United States and the UAR The President is apparently desirous of seeking some form of accommodation to domestic pressures flowing from this Israeli desire without seriously impairing our other interests in the area At best this would be extremely difficult to accomplish At the same time the President is concerned with the arms escalation in the Near Eastg He is particularly concerned with the apparent Israeli intent to develop a nuclear weapon capability within the next few years Any arms limitation accord involving both Israel and the UAR will be possible only if we retain the substance of the new relationship developed by this Administration with the UAR fq b bl-AZ I Also noteworthy Mike Feldman increasingly is the primary White House staff influence on policy with respect to Israel and Arab Israeli issues All outgoing cables and actions dealing with Israel and Arab Israeli matters and which could have a domestic political impact must now be cleared with the White House at Stemming from your meeting with the President on the UAR Wednesday afternoon May 8 we are now charged with the urgent preparation of a Presidential letter to Nasser which takes a first step in establishing a dialogue with Nasser on the twin problems of area security and arms limitation and a study of the various types of security was TOP SECRET Authority MM 7 9Z9 0 a- iW W- TOP SECRET -2- of security arrangements and their applicability to this situation In addition at some point in the very near future we will need a scenario on how we might proceed in the weeks and months ahead in handling the security guarantee issue Pursuant to NSAM N00 231 and Phil Talbot's memorandum to you of April 3 an arms limitation and control preposal for Israel and the UAR has been drafted and a plan of action for implementing it has been prepared The White House staff is pressing for all these documents I believe they will accept a delay if we can provide assurance all these documents will be delivered by Thursday or possibly Friday NEA will have all these documents in hand by Tuesday We need to discuss them with you VI recommend that we meet mid-week for at least an hour to Mreview our wholew approach to Arab Israeli affairs before the Department sends these forward it i grr2s ak 9a 6 Cue A NEA JPGrant atm 5 11 63 TOP SECRET Authority DEPARTMENT OF STATE I TOP SECRET COVER SHEET 1 TOP SECRET CONTROL NUMBER 3 5 399 sI DESCRIPTION OF ATTACHED DOCUMENTS if other pertinent data Origin subject reference no or Memorandum to the Secretary dated 5 11 63 re White House Concern with Arab-Israeli Matters 2 COPY INFORMATION ACTION COPY INFORMATION COPY TELEGRAMS DESPATCHES Copies 1- 2-3- of 8 copies 0on No or counts 5 FORWARDED 3 DATE AND NAME OF PERSON PREPARING FORM 5 11 63 Helen Hennessy 5 11 63 A Mikulka Date Top Secret Cantrol Officer 6 7 8 91 I 10 11 PERSONS T0 WHOM 0 95 SIGNATURES DATE RECEIVED DATE READ DATE RELEASED READING SYMBOL x fx Walter Lubkeman VIM a we 5 ea - Waai Iss 5 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1961 618674 DECLASSIFIED Ii Authority MMD Mfg 5 23 E OF E0 fD Wat-ward 0m 7382' CgMbo-wmauenm ECIAL ASSISTANT To TEE SECRETARY UECLASSIFIED MND T g 5 23 THIS DOCUMENT REQUIRES SPECIAL HANDLING 5 11 63 A 3 s#6994 Memo to Secy from James P Grant re White House concern with Arab-Israeli Matters B DISTRIBUTION 1 TO CLNO DESTROYED original 1 2 3 4 in 5 3 Copies w w tAnDroved by Secv fer 3 30 7 W 571% 112 2wa 5 9 I 54 THIS COPY MUST BE RETURNED TO - L DJHaWz am H Brubeck Executive Secretary THIS DOCUMENT Department of State Room 7224 REQUIRES SPECIAL HANDLING D0 th File 7 gm This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu