We'll Stop Shooting When Arabs Do Golda

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Egyptian
planes attacked Israeli positions
in the Suez Canal zone Wednes-
day for the third time since Sun-
day. An Israeli military spokes-
man described the attacks as "hit
and run" and said they caused
no casualties or damage.
He said that two Sukhov-7 bomb-
ers attacked a position south of
the Small Bitter Lake at 9:40 a.m.
and that another pair of Egyp-
tian planes attacked near the Fir-
dan bridge in the central sector
of the canal zone about an hour

beginning shortly after the Six-
Day War, which ended with a
series of cease-fire agreements
that both sides pledged to observe.
"If we had stood idly by, no
one would have accused anyone
of escalation." Mrs. Meir said.
"But the minute we start shooting
back, and we do it better than
the Arabs, then that is branded
escalation," the premier explained.
The prime minister's office de-
nied Wednesday that Mrs. Meir
has decided to establish a min-
istry of information against the
later.
wishes of Foreign Minister Abba
An Israeli soldier, Pvt. Shlomo Eban. The report, which appeared
Shai, died Tuesday night of in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz
wounds he received during an ex- Tuesday, was called -speculative."
change of fire between Israeli and'
An Israeli jet was shot down
Egyptian forces in the Suez Canal by Syrian anti-aircraft fire over
zone Tuesday.
the Golan Heights Monday, about
Premier Golda Meir said in a
10 miles east of the cease-fire line.
recorded interview Tuesday that The pilot was seen bailing out over
Israel was ready to stop shoot- Syrian territory. A military spokes-
ing as soon as the Arabs do. man said the plane was hit while
The recording was made Mon- patrolling the cease-fire line fol-
day before Mrs. Meir went to lowing a four hour battle between
bed with a cold. But it served Israeli and Syrian tanks and ar-
as a response to Soviet charges tillery in the Golan Heights Mon-
that Israel was escalating the day morning.
Middle East conflict by its alr
Israel Air Force jets attacked
attacks on Egypt.
military targets in the
Mrs. Meir said it was the Arabs. Egyptian
not Israel, who did the escalating, Nile Valley and the Nile delta
Monday. Egyptian jets attacked
Israeli positions north of Kantara
in the Suez Canal zone twice. Ac-
cording to a military spokesman
the attacks were "hit-and-run"
forays which caused no casualties
or damage. He said the Egyptian
aircraft dropped their bombs hap-
hazardly and fled.
UNITED NATIONS (ZINS) —
The battle in the Golan
Intensified Israeli air strikes at
Heights, the fourth in as many
military positions near Cairo have
days, was described as the heav-
hurt Soviet prestige in Egypt.
iest since the Six-Day War. But
According to veteran political
Israeli forces suffered no casual-
experts at the UN, there are three
ties. Jest summoned to attack
developments that could provoke
Syrian tank and artillery con-
an active Soviet response: a new centrations scored direct hits
"invasion" by Israel's armed
and returned safely to their
forces and the occupation of addi-
bases, a military spokesman re-
tional Egyptian territories; or
ported. He denied Syrian claims
bombardment by Israel of Egyp-
to have downed an Israeli jet
tian cities.
during the battle.
It is believed, however, that in
According to Israeli sources, the
these circumstances, President
Nassar would be forced to appeal Syrians may be heating up their
front
with Israel at the request
to the Russians that their pilots of President Gamal Abdel Nasser,
assume responsibility for the de- in order to ease the pressure on
fense of the Arab cities, and that Egypt. Israelis also noted that Sy-
the Kremlin would most probably ria has completed the rehabilita-
agree to do that.
tion of its army, which was badly
The possibility of Nassar seeking mauled in the 1967 war and now
a direct military alliance with wants to test it.
Moscow also is not ruled out, pro-
For the past three days, Syrian
vided the Soviets are convinced forces have opened fire on Israeli
that Washington would tolerate patrols near Rafid in the southern
Soviet intervention in the Arab- Golan Heights. The shooting gen-
Israeli conflict. According to the erally started with mortars, and
experts, Israel will most certainly later tanks and artillery were put
stop short of bombing Egyptian into action.
cities and will content itself with
Israel Air Force targets in Egypt
attacks against military installa- Monday included the Baltim mili-
tions.
tary camp in the Nile Delta, over
100 miles west of Port Said and
(According to columnist Row-
land Evans, in a column appear- another military camp near Asyutt
ing this week in major U.S. in the Nile Valley. All planes re-
papers, Israel's raids into Egypt turned safely. Yasser Arafat, the
are making Nassar more re- El Fatah leader, claimed in Am-
luctant to start peace talks. He man that the "successes" of his
said sympathy for Nassar, de- guerrilla forces have created se-
spite the humiliating defeats rious military and political divi-

Moscow Red-Faced
by Israel Strikes
at Egyptian Land

still is the dominant mood among
the Egyptian people.
(Nassar and his military chiefs,
however, are "furious at the ease
with which Israeli paratroops have
been able to heist his radar ma-
chines and carry them home. In
conection with that incident, the
army is said to have court-
martialed—and sentenced to death
—three to five officers "for the
disgrace of the radar theft at Ras
Ghareb."
(The Russians, Evens writes,
"fear an escalation that might re-
sult in a major but futile Egyptian

attack across the Suez Canal which
in turn, could serve Israel as a
pretext for attacking Cairo and
Alexandria, thus presenting Mos-
cow with an agonizing dilemma—
Arab
intervention or another

Chance for ME Peace
Might Improve if Nasser
Is Replaced, Peres Says

NEW YORK (JTA) — An Israeli
cabinet minister said chances for

Middle East peace might improve
if President Gamal Abdel Nasser
of Egypt was replaced by leaders
who were more "Egypt-oriented"
than pan-Arab. Shimon Peres, act-
ing minister of immigrant absorp-
tion, interviewed on the National
Educational Television Network,
conceded that if Nasser were
toppled he might be replaced by
leaders even more intransigent.
But, he said, under present circum-
stances Col. Nasser is not going to
make peace with Israel because he
has assumed for himself a "hori-
zontal" role as leader of the Arab
world. Another Egyptian leader
might be more concerned with

humiliation." The Soviets may
• soon have to encourage Nassar into
political talks—something Nassar
won't do as long as Israeli raids Egypt's national interests, Peres
said.
continue, writes Evens.)

34--Fridai, Tetirtiaty 6; 1970

tHE'•DETKOWIEWISH -NEWS

sions among Israeli leaders. Ara-
fat did not specify the nature of
the "successes" nor did he say
what the alleged divisions among
the Israelis were.

Windows were shattered in
Haifa Jan. 29 when a low-flying
plane apparently a Syrian
MIG-21, swooped in from the sea

and broke the sound barrier.
There were no injuries reported.
A military spokesman said the
plane came in too low to be de-
tected by radar. Israeli jets
have recently created sonic
booms over Damascus and Cai-
ro. This was the first time since

the Six-Day War that Syrian
planes penetrated Israeli air
space.

An Israeli border policeman
identified as 19-year-old Joseph
Gozlan, was fatally wounded ear-
lier when a patrol came under
fire near Gesher in the northern
Beisan Valley. A soldier was
wounded in the same incident. An-
other patrol was fired on near
Beth Yosef in the central Beisan
Valley. Air force jets were called
in to blast the positions where
guerrilla gunners were entrenched.
Israeli jets also attacked a guer-
rilla base near Nimrit Shuneh in
Jordan northeast of the Dead Sea.
A military spokesman said all
planes returned safely from both
actions.
The Israeli and Egyptian air
forces traded attacks across the
Suez Canal Sunday while ground
forces on both sides of the water-
way exchanged artillery fire. An
Israeli, Giora Kosovitz, of Kibbutz
Dalia, was killed and three sol-
diers were wounded by the shell-
ing, bringing the casualty list for
the week-end to two killed and 14
wounded on all fronts.

A military spokesman said
Israeli jets stacked Egyptian po-
sitions in the southern section of
the Suez Canal zone for 45 min-
utes, beginning at noon. Later
they attacked Egyptian military
positions on the north shores of
the Gulf of Suez.

All planes returned safely from
both actions. A military spokes-
man said that during the day two
Egyptian jets attacked Israeli po-
sitions near Kantara in the north-
ern section of the canal zone and
two others hit positions south of
Ismailia at the canal's midpoint.
He said the Egyptian bombs
missed their mark and caused no
casualties or damage.
Israeli forces repulsed an Egypt-
ian commando raid across the
Suez Canal Saturday. Two soldiers
were slightly wounded in that ac-
tion and two others were wound-

Leading JNF Personality
Joseph Weitz Turns 80

JERUSALEM — Joseph Weitz,
head of the Jewish National Fund
land and afforestation division
from 1932 until his retirement in
1966, was honored by colleagues
and leading personalities of the
state of Israel and the Zionist
movement at a celebration mark-
ing his 80th birthday and the pub-
lication of his latest book, "The
Forest and Afforestation in Is-
rael," written to commemorate 50
years of JNF afforestation.
Addressing the gathering, Jacob
Tsur, Jewish National Fund chair-
man, spoke of Weitz as the out-
standing personality responsible
for creating the image of the Jew-
ish National Fund in all its aspects
of land purchase, land reclama-
tion and afforestation and as an
early visionary in recognizing the
value of the soil in the realization
of the Jewish homeland.
The guest of honor insisted that
the important date was not his
birthday, but the 50th anniversary
of afforestation, which has suc-
ceeded in covering 137,500 acres
of barren wasteland with trees. He
emphasized that this was just a
start since, according to his esti-
mate, the country has 400,000 acres
needing afforestation, with the
next maim' target the Negev.

ed in a subsequent exchange of
artillery fire with the Egyptians.
An Israeli soldier, Pvt. Aryeh
Yudelevitz of Risdon LeZion, was
fatally wounded in a clash with
guerrillas in the El Burej refugee
camp in' the Gaza Strip Friday
night. Two other soldiers were
wounded in the encounter.
An Israeli military spokesman
said Egyptian commandos crossed
the Suez Canal opposite Ismailia
and were caught by an Israeli pa-
trol while trying to set up an am-
bush. The Egyptians suffered cas-
ualties but managed to retreat
across the canal with their wound-
ed, under cover of artillery fire.
Two Israeli newspapers ex-
pressed misgivings over mounting
aerial bombardment of Egypt. The
English-language Jerusalem Post
warned that the air raids over
Egypt—nine during the month of
January—could bring retaliatory
Arab raids on Israeli cities.
The mass circulation Maariv
said Israel's deep aerial penetra-
tions of Egypt and Syria should
be halted to give Cairo and Da-
mascus a chance to re-evaluate
their positions and possibly return
to the cease-fire agreements.
The Jerusalem Post noted that
the United States Department had
expressed anxiety over the escala-
tion of the air war. The Post said
"Certainly Israel is anxious. If
Haifa or Tel Aviv were actually
to be bombed, even ineffectually,
retaliation would be inevitable,
and the crowded Arab capitals of-
fer tragically vulnerable targets,
especially the close-packed tall
buildings of Cairo."
Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's
president, said Tuesday that if
President Nixon sells Israel 50
more Phantom jets he will go to
Russian and demand more arms
to strike back.
Meanwhile, it w a s reported
Wednesday by a French language
newspaper in Beirut that the So-
viet Union is airlifting arms to
Egypt, with planes arriving at
the rate of one per h o u r. The
paper said the arms were for the
defense of Cairo against raids by
Israel.

The State Department com-
mented on Israeli air raids in
the vicinity of Cairo that "there
is urgent need for scrupulous re-
storation by both sides of the
United Nations cease fire." State
Department spokesman Robert
I. McCloskey said "we have re-
peatedly counselled restraint on
both sides in order to avoid the
continuing cycle of attack and
counter-attack by both regular
and irregular forces." He as-
serted that "the height and level
of violence across the cease fire
line and in both sides' territo-
ries and the death and destruc-
tion which results is disturbing
to us." He said that the United
States counselled restraint.
Israel advised the Security Coun-

non must bear full responsibility
for the consequences of terrorist

attacks mounted against Israel
from Lebanese soil. Israel Ambas-
sador Yosef Tekoah stated this in
a letter to Terence Nsanze of the
Republic of Burundi, this month's
president of the Security Council
in reply to a complaint by the
Lebanese representative that Isra-
eli forces attacked Lebanese ter-
ritory Jan. 25.
"The facts are different," Am-
bassador Tekoah wrote. "On the
night of 24-25 January, the Israeli
village of Zar'it . . . was shelled
from inside Lebanon, apparently
by irregular forces which use ex-
tensive parts of southern Lebanon
as a base for aggression against
Israel. The Israel Defense Forces
returned this fire in the direction
of the attackers."
Tekoah charged Lebanese gov-
ernment complicity "in the cam-
paign of aggression waged from
Lebanese territory against Israel."
He cited a statement by Lebanese
Premier Rashid Karame on Jan.
19, after a meeting with the leader
of El Fatah, that said "At the

meeting with Yasser Arafat, the
present situation and the necessity

to cooperate in the general interest
were discussed."

Israeli Military Tribunal Sentences
Two Convicted Saboteurs
to Life Imprisonment
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Two con-
victed saboteurs were sentenced to
life imprisonment by a military
tribunal in Tulkarem today. They
are Rahman Abdul Rahman Adu-
wan, 25, a student at the Nablus
English College and Mouhamad

Moustafa Taha, 20, a construction

worker who once worked in Tel
Aviv. A large cache of arms and
ammunition was found in the gar-
den of Aduwan's home. Both were
residents of Kalkilya.
The pair was found guilty of
planting explosives in a synagogue
in Kfar Saba. They were also
found guilty of sabotaging a water
carrier near Kibbutz Nir Eliyahu
and planting explosives in the Kal-
kilya branch of the Bank Leumi.

Border Incidents
Increase; Losses
Factually Given

TEL AVIV (JTA)—The Israel
Army disclosed that there was a
six-fold increase in border inci-
dents in 1969 compared to the pre-
vious year and a 55 per cent in-
crease in casualties. But a mili-
tary spokesman said the rise in
casualties relative to incidents was
small and proved the ineffective-
ness of the enemy's operations. He
said casualties among civilians de-
creased by one-third in .1969 com-
pared to 1968. No absolute figures
were released.

Last week showed a small In-
crease of incidents along the Egyp-
tian border. Seventy-nine were re-
cil that the government of Leba- corded compared to 56 the previ-
ous week. But during November
and December, incidents along the
`Hot Line' Employed
cease-fire line with Egypt ranged
from 120 to 150 per week, the
in Shadwan Incident,
spokesman said.
If Arab claims are to be be-
Beirut Sources Claim

LONDON—The "hot line" be-
tween Moscow and Washington was
used last week to avert a new war
in the Middle East, the London
Sunday Telegraph reported last
weekend in a front page dispatcn
from Beirut.
The Telegraph said Egypt's
president Gamal Abdel Nasser
notified the Russian ambassador
to Cairo after the Israeli occupa-
tion of the Suez island of Shadwan
Jan. 22 that Egypt planned a "ma-
jor counter-attack." The dispateh
—based only on "information re-
ceived in Beirut"—said that the
ambassador notifiet Soviet lead-
ers in Moscow, who immediately
contacted the White House.
As a result of the call, the Tele-
graph said, "the Americans put
strong pressure on the Israelis to
withdraw from the island, which

lieved, at least half of Israel's air
force has been shot down since
the June 1967 Six Day War. Ac-
cording to Arab arithmetic, the Is-
raelis have lost 321 aircraft up to
the first three weeks of January
1970. The Egyptian Air Force ad-
mits 12 losses for the entire two
and a half year period and Syria
conceded 13.
An Israeli spokesman said Is-
raeli air losses since June 1967
amount to 16 planes and that the
combined Egyptian and Syrian air-
forces lost 81 in the same period.
In 1967, Israel lost three planes
though the Arabs claimed 36.
In 1968, Israeli losses again

were three but Arab claims mount-
ed to 49.
During 1969, Israel admits nine
air losses while the Arabs credit

themselves with 218. And since
the beginning of January 1970,

they (the Israelis) had intended the Arabs say 18 Israeli aircraft
to keep" after a 32-hour occupa- were downed. Israel places its
tion. .
lasses' this -month -at • one, - - • •

