Hakirya,
17 February 1956
To the Foreign Minister
From the Prime Minister
In response to your letter of 15.2.56 I must first of all
make my clarify my remarks to Bigart.
I was asked whether we were about to renew work on March
1st. I answered: March 1st – not necessarily. As we have learned, Johnson is
soon coming over here in order to conclude the negotiations. If he succeeds in
that soon, we would be happy; for we prefer to work under an agreement rather
than under a conflict. If he does not succeed, we would carry out the work
alone.
I have no idea whether Bigart reported my remarks as they
were uttered. I will wait for the New
York Times and see.
As to the matter itself, I had no idea of the line
adopted by the Foreign Ministry, "including its embassies in Washington
and Paris." Had I known it, I would not have said to Bigart what I said.
In what I wrote above there is not the slightest grievance
towards the Foreign Ministry for not informing me of its line, only a statement
of the fact that I was not aware of the existence of such a line. I also had no
idea of the French Ambassador's visit.
While I am not in favor of a policy of making early
announcements when they are not backed by a resolute decision to carry them
out, this would not have prevented me
from acting according to the line you have adopted towards the outer world.
As to coordination: I am all for it and will listen
readily to any suggestion you might have which would assure it as much as
possible by both sides.
With
friendly greetings,
D. Ben Gurion
SOURCE: ISA FM 130.02/2446/11.
