This meeting was the only one between U.S. President Carter and Syrian President Assad during the Carter administration. Carter wanted to learn Assad’s requirements for an agreement with Israel. Assad doubted that the Saudis would join this process. In the end, Assad made it clear that he was not rushing into an agreement with Israel, even if asked by the United States. Carter acknowledged knowing little about the Palestinian refugee issue and said the U.S. was committed to the security of Israel.

CIE+

Reliable resources for deeper Israel understanding

Embrace informed content on Israel, the Middle East and the Diaspora.

$39 / year

JOIN CIE+

  1. Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Middle East File, Trips/Visits File, Box 104, 5/9/77 President Meeting with President Asadof Syria: 2–6/77. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva. All brackets are in the original. Carter visited Geneva on May 9 to meet with Swiss President Kurt Furgler and President Asad.↩

  2. On November 29, 1947, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which called for the creation of Jewish and Arab states in Palestine with the termination of the British Mandate on August 1, 1948. On December 11, 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 194. Article 11 of that resolution stated that the refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war should be permitted to return to their homes at the earliest practical date or be compensated for the loss or damage of property if they chose not to return.↩

  3. U.N. General Assembly Resolution 273, adopted May 11, 1949, admitted Israel into the United Nations.↩

  4. The Armistice Agreements were actually negotiated and signed in 1949. See footnote 5, Document 18.↩

  5. See footnote 9, Document 21.↩

  6. See Document 14.↩

  7. No record of this conversation has been found.↩

  8. See Documents 30 and 31.↩

  9. See footnote 8, Document 6.↩

  10. Syrian troops remained in Lebanon to keep the peace after the cease-fire in 1976. See footnote 14, Document 7.↩

  11. See, for example, the report of Kissinger’s discussions with Israeli leaders in February 1975 in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. XXVI, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1974-1976, Document 131. Kissinger reiterated in his memoirs that the United States would not negotiate with the PLO “so long as the PLO engaged in terrorism and maintained its charter calling for the destruction of Israel.” (Years of Renewal, p. 356)↩

  12. See footnote 10, Document 27.↩