Sinai Disengagement Agreement - Vol. I - Gerald R. Ford ...

THE WHITE HOUSE
INFORMATION
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.--SECR: El' / SENSITIV E August 26, 1975
MEMORANDUlvl FOR:
FROM:
THE PRESIDENT
~~ENT SCOWCRO~T:@
Secretary Kissinger has sent you the following report on his August 25
:meeting with Pri:me Minister Rabin:
•
"I:m:mediate1y upon returning fro:m Alexandria, I :met for 2-1/2 hour s this
evening to give the Israeli negotiating tea:m a report on :my talks today
with President Sadat and Foreign Minister Fah:my. With only :minor details
to be cleared up, I believe we now have agree:ment on the :map. With
respect to the text of the agree:ment itself, while the Israelis want to study
it overnight, their reaction to the language we worked out in Alexandria __
and in particular the inclusion of references to blockades and the passage
of Israeli cargoes through the canal -- indicates that the differences have
been significantly narrowed.
"I will :meet again to:morrow :morning with the Israeli negotiating tea:m to
get their considered reaction before returning to Alexandria to:morrow
afternoon. There is still a great deal of work to do if we are to wrap up
the agree:ment by the end of the week, and there are still possibilities that
further hitches can develop although the prospects are clearly better as a
result of the decisions taken by Sadat today which I have already reported
to you.
"The next i:m:mediate tasks facing us are to work out the text of a· trilateral
agree:ment governing the stationing of US civilian personnel at the :monitoring
stations in the vicinity of the Passes and of the bilateral US-Israeli Me:morandt:.:
of Understanding. We provided drafts of both of these in technical talks held
by :me:mbers of :my staff ,vith the Israelis in Jerusale:m today while I was
in Egypt, and they have pro:mised us their reactions to:morrow. On the
1-1e:morandu:m of Understanding, as you know~ the Israelis have been pressing
for assurances with regard to econo:mic and :military assistance and oil
supply as well as diplo:matic and political support which in :many instances
go far beyond what we can or should give the:m. The draft we gave the:m
cut back sharply on :many of these assurances, and I expect so:me tough
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