Jerusalem,
20 February 1956
To the Prime Minister
From the Foreign Minister
I am herewith answering your letter of February 17
regarding your interview with the representative of the New
York Times.
In my earlier letter I dealt with, naturally, with your
remarks as they were reported and with the wrong impression they made publicly.
I could not know exactly what you said. I only heard that Bigart had forwarded
his cable to New York Times to your
office before it was sent.
Since then I have labored quite extensively, and others
at the Foreign Ministry have labored as well, to correct the wrong impression [created by your remarks]. I
did that in my conversations with the American and French Ambassadors, and
in cables sent to our embassies abroad. Bigart has sent an additional cable in
which he clarified the situation
as it is.
As to the line adopted by the Foreign Ministry regarding
the resumption of work on the Jordan channel, I was under the impression that a
clear line was apparent in view of the coded cables exchanged between the
Foreign Ministry and our embassies in Paris and Washington, all of which were
at your disposal. I have especially in mind my cable to Eban no.547 of January
20 and his reply no.804 of February 2 [DFPI 11, docs.62, 68].
As to coordination in the future, I am proposing:
1. Responses [to be issued] by the Prime
Minister to coded cables and other papers of the Foreign Ministry in cases of
disagreement with the line adopted in them.
2. Informing the Foreign Minister in
advance of any interview given by the Prime Minister to a journalist if it is
meant to be published, in order to enable him to make comments regarding
current affairs, to be considered by the Prime Minister.
3. Any statement which the Foreign Minister
is about to make, which includes a new approach which has not yet adopted by
the government, would be forwarded to the Prime Minister for approval in time.
Moshe
Sharett
SOURCE: ISA FM 130.02/2446/11.
