Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense: Middle East Boundaries

The following document from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff was obtained by the Middle East Research & Information Project, publisher of MERIP Reports, through the Freedom of Information Act. Although the document was officially declassified in 1979, MERIP only became aware of its existence from a Wall Street Journal article (March 9, 1983) entitled " What the Joint Chiefs Saw as Defensible Borders," by Richard Brody, a consultant with Pan Heuristics. Near East Report (April 15, 1983), a publication of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, noted that the document supports Israel's policy of not withdrawing from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, occupied in I967.