MIDDLE EAST CRISIS Egypt Under State Of Emergency

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31923, 26 February 1969, Page 17

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS Egypt Under State Of Emergency

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright) CAIRO, February 25. An indefinite state of emergency was imposed on Egypt today, and defence and medical services were put on standby alert as fears mounted of possible Israeli reprisals for Arab commando attacks. The emergency order, issued by the Minister of Local Administration (Mr Hamay Ashour). came only a few hours after Israeli fighters and bombers had attacked Arab terrorist bases in Syria, and after a new outburst of firing across the Suez Canal between Egyptian and Israeli forces. Cairo’s authoritative newspaper, “Al Ahram,” says the new order covers the whole country.

Mr Ashour has ordered provincial Governors to remain in their offices during the fiveday holiday which begins on Wednesday to mark Id Al-Adha, a Moslem sacrificial feast.

Civil defence, hospital, fire brigade and public sendees will be raised to full capacity under the order, according to “Al Ahram.”

In an editorial accompanying its story today, “Al Ahram’’ says: “Israel cannot put down the Palestinian revolution or force the Palestinian peoples into submission.” The order is seen by political observers in Cairo as a reflection of growing apprehension in Egypt that Israel may decide to direct raids at Egypt like that into Syria, in retaliation for Palestinian commando attacks. Memories are still fresh in Egypt of a raid deep into Egyptian territory late last year, after an artillery duel across the Suez Canal in which Israel claimed to have lost 15 dead and 34 wounded. Power installations and two bridges over the River Nile,

about 125 miles into Egypt from the Red Sea, were destroyed in that raid. From Tel Aviv it is reported that Israeli jet aircraft struck at Arab guerrilla posts across the River Jordan today after an Israeli patrol had been fired on west of the river.

The Israeli patrol, in the region of Neve-Ur, south of the Sea of Galilee, came under fire about 8 a.m., a spokesman said, but there were no Israeli casualties.

“Israeli ground forces returned the fire and two aircraft were sent up to silence the guerrilla posts,” the spokesman added. Brigadier Haim Herzog, a former chief of Israeli mili-

tary intelligence, said last night that Israel would regard the hearts of the Arab countries as legitimate targets if the Arab guerrillas operating from their territories consider the whole of Israel as a front.

In a radio commentary on yesterday’s air strikes against Arab guerrilla bases in Syria. Brigadier Herzog described them as “a direct blow against the saboteurs’ bases in the course of a declared war waged by the guerrillas on Israel.”

“It would appear that Israel has no option now but to strike in depth and create a situation which will be intolerable for the host Arab Governments,” he said.