Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

DEPARTMENT OF STATE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON December 13, 1948 m SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS INDONESIA US representative Cochran reports from Batavia that there is little chance the discussions between the Indonesian Republic and the Netherlands will be renewed, and indi- cates there is now "no alternative to immediate debate of the Indo- nesian question before the Security Council. Further confirmation of a widening rift between the two parties is evidenced in the Dutch reply rejecting the premises of our aide-memoire, indicting the Repub- lic for its failure to recognize the sovereignty of the Netherlands during the interim period before the establishment of the United States of Indonesia, and making clear that, unless such recognition is forth- coming, the Netherlands government will have to make a "final decision" on the method of "implementing its pledges to the peoples of the Neth- erlands and Indonesia. In view of the Dutch insistence on this posi- tion -- which was reiterated to the British Ambassador at The Hague and to our UN delegation in Paris -- Cochran recommends that we consider withdrawal from the Good Offices Committee and reiteration in the Security Council of our favorable opinion of the "draft agreement", because he feels that the Good Offices Committee will be practically useless unless US and SC intervention proves effective. PALESTINE Our representative in Amman reports UK opinion that events there are rapidly moving to the point where Trans- jordan may soon begin negotiations with Israel on a government-to- government basis. These talks may commence when Transjordan is assured it has UK support. King Abdullah and his Prime Minister are beginning to feel that the opinions of the other Arab states, with the possible exception of Egypt, are of no importance in the Palestine situation. According to our Consul in Jerusalem, the Israelis feel that now is the psychological moment to begin armistice talks with Transjordan directly. DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guideline, June 12, 1979 By NLT-WR NARS, Date 11-13 to