Talk:Walter Eytan

James G. McDonald

The full quote goes: "Superficially, he was very English; his cultured speech, his collection of pipes and his casual friendly manner showed him as the Oxford don he had been; but underneath this exterior he was as intensely Jewish as were his Eastern colleagues. His brilliant gift for languages was matched by a clear and logical mind. His verbal statements of his Government's position were frequently briefer than and always as informative as those of Sharrett. As did his Chief on occasions, Eytan sometimes deliberately avoided a vital point; when it was called to his attention, his effort to make the oversight appear casual was so great and his elucidation so complete that his original neglect could have hardly been an oversight....Anyhow, in most of our conversations Eytan was frank, clear and helpful. And his written communications were invariably models of form and logical argument. He was a perfect second-in-command for the Foreign Office."

McDonald also records (page 146) an occasion when Eytan offered to solve the diplomatic corps accommodation problems in Tel Aviv by providing space in Jerusalem. McDonald "demurred" since the US Government "had not recognized Israel's occupancy of Jerusalem". Eytan persisted, saying the invitation was made to McDonald as the Doyen of the ambassadors. This would have obliged McDonald to pass on the invitation to the other ambassadors and resulted in a public reiteration of the US position. "I postponed calling the next meeting of the Corps until Eytan had formally withdrawn his proposal. It was the diplomatic way out - and I took it."

McDonald makes no reference to the death of Thomas C. Wasson a month before his appointment. Padres Hana (talk) 19:52, 23 September 2011 (UTC)