Dayan Blames Russians

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32170, 13 December 1969, Page 13

Dayan Blames Russians

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyrights LONDON, Dec. 12. The Israeli' Defence Minister (Genera! 1 Moshe Dayan) told a ,meeting in London that Soviet penetration in the Middle East was to blame for the failure of peace negotiations. Addressing 400 leading members of Anglo-Jewry at a dinner in London last night, General Dayan said: “The Russians are not in the Middle East for Arab interests but Russian ones. “They want more political

interest there. The Russians are looking after their own interests first.” He added: "I cannot say that the Russians really want the Arab forces to go all out for war next summer. “They are there to train them. They are there to plan their operations and they are giving them plenty of equips ment.” General Dayan said he was confident that in spite of the re-equipment of the Egyptian Army by the Russians the Israelis would again be victorious in the showdown. He said that terrorists had failed to disrupt the normal daily life of the Israelis or mobilise the support of the Arab population. Israel did not want to be an occupation force but had no alternative at present Answering critics of Israel's alleged repression of

.the Arabs, the General said that since the six-day war 463 Arabs had been killed or Injured by terrorist action. Only 37 Arabs had been killed or injured by Israeli forces countering terrorist attacks, he said. i He was not sure that the present composition of the United Nations would have recognised, as the United Nations of 22 years ago did, the need for the Jewish people to have a State like Other people. The dinner was organised by the Joint Palestine Appeal to raise funds for social needs in Israel. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Soviet and Egyptian officials discussed the Middle East crisis yesterday in an atmosphere described as "warm and friendly," United Press International reported The official news agenqy

Tau, wid that the Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mr Mahmoud Riad) called on bis Soviet counterpart, Mr Andrei A. Gromyko. The two men “discussed some problems of the present-day international situation including the situation in the "Middle East,” the report said. The Tass reports gave no details of the talks but before the visit Western sources had reported that the Egyptian sought increased Soviet military aid. ' Western diplomatic sources close to the Middle East situation said, however, that the Kremlin was.unwilling significantly to increase either the quantity or the quality of its military assistance to Egypt