Arafat says Israel will attack soon

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33728, 28 December 1974, Page 13

Arafat says Israel will attack soon

(Neto Zealand Press Association—Copyright) BEIRUT, December 27. The leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (Mr Yasser Arafat) said today that Israel was planning a surprise offensive against Syria and southern Lebanon, and that the United States would seize the opportunity’ to occupy Arab oilfields. In an interview with an Indian correspondent, distributed by the guerrilla news agency, Wafa, in Beirut, Mr Arafat said: “The situation could turn into an international catastrophe in six months.”

The Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Rabin) says that Israel is mentally and militarily prepared for another war with the Arabs, and will emerge victorious should one be forced on it. Israeli newspapers say Israel’s Cabinet Ministers privately favour giving most of the occupied West Bank of Jordan to King Hussein as part of a Middle East peace settlement. Mr Arafat said: “There is an American-Israeli conspiracy. Israel will launch a blitzkrieg war against Syria and the southern Lebanon while the United States seizes the opportunity to occupy Arab oil wells. “The American-Israeli plan is being implemented now,” he said. “Joint military manoeuvres are being held in the American desert with the specific aim of training American soldiers in desert warfare.” In a speech to aircraft workers outside Tel Aviv, Mr Rabin said: “We are stronger. We are readier and more mentally prepared for a military confrontation if a war should be forced upon us. “We will stand wherever necessary, and we will fight if there is a need, and when we fight on the battlefields, we will be victorious.” West bank Israel is prepared to relinquish most of the occupied West Bank of Jordan except for East Jerusalem, according to the Minister of Commerce and Industry (Mr Haim Bar-Lev). The newspaper, “Daly Maariv,” yesterday quoted Mr Bar-Lev as saying at a private meeting of political party members this week that the Government was ready for concessions on the West Bank provided the Jordan River remained the security border between the two countries. Referring to the Egyptian boundary, Mr Bar-Lev said far-reaching Israeli concessions were possible in the Sinai Peninsula, but the relinquished area must be demilitarised. Egypt must also undertake to end all belligerent activity and support for the Arab guerrilla movement. He added that any further military agreements on the northern frontier with Syria , would have to include serious ] political agreements, but he . did not specify what these 1 might be. Mr Bar-Lev, who served as ; Army Chief-of-Staff after the 1 1967 war, said that Israel 1 must not make a pre-emptive j strike unless the separation-of-forces accord with Syria 1 and Egypt had been seriously 1 violated, or Israel was certain 1 an attack was imminent. ’ “Sadat promise” A pro-Govemment Israeli newspaper has said that 1 President Sadat of Egypt has i promised that the Arabs will i recognise the existence of I Israel provided it withdraws 1 to its pre-1967 frontiers and i agrees to a neighbouring I Palestinian State. 1 Government sources described as baseless other i newspaper reports that the I United States Secretary of i State (Dr Kissinger) was * making an urgent appeal to 1 Israel to agree in principle to hand back the Sinai oilfields I and strategic mountain i passes in an interim settle- < ment with Egypt.

“Davar,” the National Labour Federation newspaper, which usually supports the ruling Labour Party, said yesterday that Mr Sadat “told a visiting Austrian leader that the Arab summit conference in Rabat made a final decision to recognise the existence of the State of Israel, on condition that it withdraws to the 1967 borders, and that the Palestine Liberation Organisation also agrees and settles for establishment of a Palestinian State in the (occupied) West Bank and the Gaza Strip.” French campaign The newspaper said the Arab pledge became known together with a French campaign to force Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 frontier within a few months.

At his summit meeting with President Ford in Martinique this month, according to “Davar,” President Giscard d’Estaing of France said that the alternative to such a with, drawal now would be even greater Israeli concessions later, based upon the 1947 United Nations partition plan for Jewish and Palestinian Arab States side by side in the lands at present under Israeli control. A reliable source in Washington says that Egypt has indicated to Israel that it wants to postpone any peace moves until after the visit to Cairo of the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party (Mr Brezhnev). The message, conveyed through United States officials, was a response to Israeli proposals submitted

by Israel to Dr Kissinger earlier this month, the source said. The Israeli proposals did not contain any specific suggestions for troop withdrawals, but Egypt’s reply made it clear it wished to recover the strategic Giddi and Mitla passes, as well as the Abu Rudeis oilfield, in the Sinai.

The source said the reply gave a negative impression, but that the Egyptians were very careful not to close the door on step-by-step negotiations. Mr Brezhnev is due to begin his visit to Egypt in midJanuary. Mr Brezhnev yesterday sent an urgent message to Mr Sadat, according to the official Middle East News Agency in Cairo. Moscow talks The Egyptian Foreign Mini-! ster (Mr Ismail Fahmi) and the new Minister for War (Lieutenant - General Mohamed Abdel Ghani Gamassi) would fly to Moscow tomorrow, the semi-official newspaper, “Al Ahram,” reported in Caio today. The newspaper said they had been invited to the Russian capital by Mr Brezhnev, who sent an urgent message to Mr Sadat yesterday. The message also dealt with Middle East developments , and preparations for the Soviet leader’s visit to Cairo next month. “Al Ahram” said the two Ministers’ talks in Moscow would concentrate on issues visit. It would be the second visit of Mr Fahmi and Central Camassi to Moscow in less than three months.