2 Friday, March 3, 1918

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Purely Commentary

Facts May Fall on Deaf Ears in an Atmosphere Laden
With Prejudices, But Israel's Case Must be Stated
Fearlessly to Prove the Justice of Defense Needs

By Philip
Slomovitz

Rafah Region Not Debatable ... Need for Defense Defined Geographically

Challenges to Israel by the man
from Cairo who paid a visit to
Jerusalem, was honored by the Is-
raelis, and wishes to be compen-
sated for it, at times turns into buf-
foonery.
So much is made of Israel's de-
termination to protect herself and
not to abandon the settlements in
the Sinai and the facts must be re-
stated. They are not new, but Egyp-
tian President Anwaf Sadat gives
the impression that Israel is becom-
ing belligerent. He threatened Is-
rael in public, played coy when he
met with Jewish spokesmen and
then kept launching attacks re-
garding so-called new settlements.
One area in the Sinai region pro-
vides an answer, even if a partial
one, to the Sadat attacks. Sadat,
apparently seeking to appease his
opponents who never ceased ad-
vocating Israel's destruction, made
much of the Rafah region and de-
manded Israelis' abandonment of
that strategic point. What are the
facts?

A most informative source de-
fined the status of Rafah in a
number of instances, including the
following actual conditions in the
area as they affect Israel's security:
The region of the Rafah Ap-
proaches consists of less than
two percent of the territory in
Sinai, situated in the northeast-
ern quadrant, adjacent to the
Gaza district and Israel. It
should be noted that Sinai itself,
which is virtually without popu-
lation, consists of only six per-
cent of all Egyptian territory. To
the west, the Rafah Approaches
are bounded by the twon of El
Arish, to the east by the town of
Rafah, to the south by the drift-
ing sand dunes, and to the north
by the Mediterranean Sea.
Throughout history this narrow
sector of the Mediterranean lit-
toral has been a vital section of
the Via Maris (the way of the
sea) through which all land traf-
fic, between the Nile Valley and
the Fertile Crescent, has had to
pass.

Militarily, the Rafah Ap-
proaches _command the major
invasion route from Egypt into
Israel. During recorded history
no less than 45 armies have pas-
sed through this historic no-
mans-land — from the Pharaohs
of the 18th Dynasty to the armies
of President Nasser in 1956 and
1967 — with the separation of
the Gaza district from Israel in
1949, control of Rafah also
meant control of the volatile and
over-populated 'Gaza Strip' and
thus control of the immediate
access to Israel's coastal plain
and its major centers of popula-
tion.

Throughout the 30 years of
warfare that Egypt has imposed
upon Israel, the Rafah Ap-
proaches have seen some of the
most crucial and fiercely fought
battles. In 1948, the road from El
Arish to Ashdod, through Rafah
and Gaza, served as the major
artery; first for the invading
Moslem brotherhood forces and
then for the regular Egyptian
army. Following Israel's suc-
cessful defense against the in-
vading Egyptian forces and the
1949 armistice agreements Is-
rael returned Gaza and the
Rafah Kuntillah area to Egyp-

tian control in the hopeful belief that peace would come swiftly.
In the following years, however, Gaza and the El Arish Rafah
area came to serve as a base for large scale terror raids into
Israel, whose logistic support came from the Egyptian army in
Rafah and El Arish.

1967 war. Notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 242,
Israel, in recognizing at the Ismailia meeting on Dec. 25, 1977
the principle of "ultimate Israel withdrawal to the former in-
ternational boundary", has nevertheless recognized the prin-
ciple of Egyptian sovereignty over the entire areas of Sinai.
Israel has thus made an historic and meaningful concession
to Egypt, commensurate with President Sadat's momentous
visit to Jerusalem. Together with that concession however,
Israel reserves the right to negotiate security arrangements
which will maintain her farming settlements in the Rafah '
proaches with recognition of the principle of their right
self-defense.
It is in the light of these historical experiences that Israel is
resolved not to leave her settlements in the Rafah Approaches.
It has been argued, following the experience of the 1973 Yom
Kippur War, that civilian settlements cannot halt the masses of
tanks and armor which a modern army thrtYws into a military
invasion and that therefore, these settlements have no real
military value. It is obvious, however, that such settlements are
an important factor in the topography. They do dictate the lines
of approach which an enemy force must take and serve as the
basis for an effective, mobile defense strategy.
Moreover, the very existence of the settled area must serve as
a deterrent factor in the calculation of an invading army and
add teeth to the concept of demilitarization. Above all they
guarantee settled and peaceful territorial contiguity with the
inhabited areas of Israel's northern Negev region and lessen
the potential danger to Israel posed by the geographical situa-
tion of the Gaza district.
Need anything else be said on this score, and doesn't this apply to
every element in the problem of settlements established by Israel?
Menahem Begin gave the proper reply to Sadat in the letter to the
Miami Herald in which he replied to an earlier one from his an-
tagonist. If properly presented, American public opinion hopefully
recognize the justice of Israel's contentions.

Between 1951 and 1955, Israeli civilians were murdered in
these raids. Moreover, beginning in 1954, fortifications and
supply depots were built by the Egyptians along the
Kantarah-Rafah artery in order to strengthen the invasion ap-
proaches. Following the resultant 1956 Sinai Campaign, in
which Israel occupied the Sinai, she was promised that Egyp-
tian troops would never again return to this area and, at the
urging of President Eisenhower, Secretary of State Dulles, and
UN Secretary General Hammarskjold, Israel withdrew. Within
48 hours of that withdrawal Egyptian military forces — and not
the promised civilian administration — had returned, and by
June 1967 the Egyptian army was once again mobilized for a
war of aggression from Rafah and Gaza, 10 minutes walking
time from Israeli villages.

In 1967 that re-entry of the Egyptian armies with massive
forces into Sinai forced Israel, once again, into a decisive war of
self-defense resulting in an Israeli administration of Sinai.
Again casualties were heavy, and again the decisive battles
were fought in the Rafah Approaches as Israel attempted to cut
the supply lines of the Egyptian intended invasion route. This
time Israel was not so willing to retreat without a binding
settlement and meaningful security guarantees.
In recognition of the instability of the lines and their role in 19
years of warfare, Security Council Resolution 242 of Nov. 22,
1967, speaks of "withdrawal from territories occupied in the
recent conflict" to "secure and recognized boundaries".
It is clear from the text of Security Council Resolution 242
that the intention of its authors :was to establish new and secure
boundaries, therefore, different from those which preceded the

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THE RAFAH APPROACHES:
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attack Israel and to threaten
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