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    "label": "President Nixon's Trip to Europe - WHITE HOUSE ITALY February-March 1969",
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    "title": "President Nixon's Trip to Europe - WHITE HOUSE ITALY February-March 1969",
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        "National Security Files (Nixon Administration)",
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    "ocrText": "TP-6\nSECRET/EXDIS\nFebruary 19, 1969\nTHE MIDDLE EAST\nThe Points We Want to Leave in Europe\n1. We are seriously concerned about dangerous tensions in the\nNear East, but we are not panicked.\n2. We will do our part to reduce them, but no one should expect the\nUS alone to produce a settlement. An Arab-Israeli settlement may be\nbeyond our capacity. If so, then we will seek other ways to limit great-\npower involvement.\n3. If there is to be a settlement, everyone will have to pay a price\nfor it Arabs, Israelis, Russians, Americans, French and British.\nCooperation is a two-way street not just something one side does when\nit suits his interests.\n4. We are willing to work in any forum as long as it is not stacked\nagainst us. For instance, four-power talks are all right, provided the\nother countries make a constructive contribution. If our allies line up\nwith the Soviet Union, we would do better to talk unilaterally with the USSR.\nThe Pitfalls to Avoid\n1. The British and French are more ready than we to press for terms\nof a Near East settlement some of them seemingly quite reasonable --\nthat Israel just will not buy. Since everyone will look to us to deliver\nIsrael, we must stick to a fairly hard line in talking about the terms of\na settlement and how to reach one. The major principles spelled out in\nthe talking points go as far as Israel could go -- maybe even a bit farther.\n2. The British and French may each be more eager to promote their\nown separate interests than to pay any price for a serious Near East\nsettlement. It would be helpful to probe for the real motive behind their\ninterest in a settlement not to take their professions of interest at\nface value.\n3. Much that is said in Europe will get back to the Israelis. We\nmust be in a position at the end of the trip to say to them convincingly\n(a) that the talks were' exploratory and we committed ourselves to nothing\nthat would jeopardize Israel's security, and (b) that we pressed our belief\nthat the parties to the Arab-Israeli war must participate in working out\nthe terms of a settlement.\nSECRET/EXDIS"
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