CmKM*IGKNCK AGENCY Directorate of7
LIBRARY Mandatory Review
Document #
MEMORANDUM
Arab-Israeli Sl^aUon Report
1. Both Israel and Egypt accused each othor of violating tho ceasefire yestorday, in what tbe Israeli govornneut describedsmall engagement"shsh, somoilos south of Port Said on the Suez Canal. According to tho Israeli government, two Egyptian platoons, accompanied by half-tracks and supported by nortar fire and some air activity, crossed the canal and eugaged an Israoli patrol. Tho US Krabassy In Tol Aviv roporla, however, that the Israelis assess tho Egyptian action as related to tho General Assembly Meeting and aro not inclined to regard tho incident as serious. Since tho area in questionarrow spit of laud baroly widoroad, and entiroly surrounded by water and marshland, it scows highly unlikely that the Egyptians chose it as tho siteajor ponotration of lurauli defenses. It seems more probablo that the Israolis stuaiblodocket never evacuated by the Egyptians and decided to cloan it out, or that the Egyptians wore engagingesture for propaganda purposes. Two other brlof exchanges of fire wore reported this morning, one at tho sceno of yesterday's ineidont and tho othor further south near tho town of Qnntarn.
Twelve Arab countries nuaualt neotlng in the Sudau on reportH from Khartoum. Syria to attend tho summit, which is Arab Foreign Ministers meeting the meeting is held, tho main llkoly be what concorted actio In the wako of tho recent war. not llkoly tomooth ono.
addition to the mandatory deparluru ofofficial dopondents, all British civiliansadvised to leavo Aden byuly. Mauyare alsoto leavo. Somehope to "stick Itut tho Peninsularsteamship line has dolcted Adon fronof call and British Petroleum may closo clown
if the torrorliui contlnuos at the present level. Tho US Cunsulnto-Gcuoral describes the situation as ono of "creeping chaos."
al-Qadlr Al-Badri was yesterday appointedHusayn Mazlq as Libya's primehad served in Haziq's cabinet as Ministerand State Property andomparativeother changos woro effected In yosterday'sbut the no*ripolltanlnn,carry out furthor cabinet reshuffles.
Despite overy effort by tho supporlors of the nonaligned and Latin American resolutions to garner the necessary two-thirds vote for their rospoctivo proposals, Monday's voting may welltand off. Both resolutions aro expected toajority, but each may be blocked from attaining the necessary margin by the supporters of tho othor resolution.
Tho nonaligned rosolutlon, which calls for complotc Israeli withdrawal before the Initiation of any rolated pence moves, is opposed by almost all oftin Amoricans,
many Western Europeans,cattering of nations from other parts of the world. Some of the French-speaking Africanstance on tho two resolutions issupport the nonaligned resolution,ajority -will probably abstain. ew may vote against it. Tho French, who will vote for tho nonaligned draft, have beon pressuring tho Fronch-spoaking African states derogations to follow thoir load. Paris' efforts may haveew votes, but do not appear to have swung this blochole in favor of the nonaligned rosolutlon.
7. Tho impact of tho amendments offered on Friday by tho sponsors of the nonaligned draft ln an offort to mako thoir proposals more appealing to some African and Asian nations was offset by the introduction of the moderate Latin American resolution. The nonaligned amondmonts called for Israeli withdrawal to positions held at the outbreak
of tho current fighting Instead or behind tho armistice linos. They also called on the Secretary General to bo "in contact with tho parties concerned ln dealing with tho problems of tho area."
IA resolution requests Israel toforces from Arab lands occupied during theand asks all parties to ond tho state It calls on tho Secretary Generalwith tho parllos and to roly on tho presenceUN to carry out those provisions, toof tho international vatorways in the area,tho problem of refugees, and to guainnteeindependence of the states in the aroaincluding tho establishment of Some of the moderate AsiAn and African states,abstain on the nonaligned resolution, aro expectod
to vote for the IA proposal. The opposition of tho sponsors and hard core supporters of tho nonaligned draft seems sufficiently strong, however, to prevent passage of the IA resolution.
woro indications on Friday that the UKon tho nonaligned resolution. lord Caradontold Ambassador Goldborg, howovor, that hoa "no" vote on the nonaligned resolution and
a "yos" voto on tho LA toxt and had no reason to bellovo this recommendation would not be accepted.
There aro four other resolutions on tho agenda. Three ofUS rosolutlon cAlllng for Israoll-Arnboviet resolution condemning Israel and ordering an immediate Israeli withdrawal and IsrAoll paymont of war reparations, and an Albanian resolution linking tho US and Drltaln to thenot ectod to be broughtote by their sponsors. akistani resolution, calling on Israol to rescind all measures already taken And to tako no further action which would altor tho status of Jeraualom, appears toood chance of approval.
Tho prospectstand off has produced soma efforts toompromise Tho French, for example, appear to bo oncourAglng members of tho two sponsoring groups toew text, but there is little enthusiasm for such an effort. It Is the USUN mission's assessment that an unbrldgablc gap exists between tho
concept of unconditional withdrawal and tho concept of withdrawal relatod to other olemcnts. Tho Mission feole that the only concrete conclusion of tho Genoral Assembly Mightesolution urging tho appointment of an enlRHary of the Secretary General to proceed to the aroa. Tho Mission's soundings of tho WR representatives on this alternative produced some fooling that this, too, could fail to get two-thirds and porhaps should be savedeturn to theemotional almosphero of tho Security Council.
Prenier Kosygln's visit withlike tho earlier one the Sovlot Premierhis way to Now York, wasestureavoid or ameliorate any adverse French reactionemphasis on closo consultations with thetho Middle East conflict. Sovlot actionscrisis (the preemptory treatment offor four-power talks) underlined Moscow's
view that Franco's role Tho .
stop-ovors Paris ^jcMMIWlWi< ilill WillilfaWlfcl1
however, indlcato Moscow's dosiro not to lot Its stance on tho Middle East din the lustrespecial" Franco-Soviet relationship.
President Podgorny, who recentlydays of talk with Nasir in Cairo, arrivedyesterdayelegation IncludingMinistor Malik and Doputy Defonso His Mission is likoly to includodiscussion, especially on the quostionarms supplies. Ho also can bo expected toattitudes toward Israel and to try to geton president Al-Atani's current politicaluows media already have bogun to- trumpetstirring and bright demonstrationfrlondship."
Id. Marshal Zakharov, Soviet Army Chiof of Staff, also returned to Moscow yestordayixteen-day visit to the i'Ait to assess tho prosent Arab military posture and probably to determine futuro Egyptian neods. Thoro havo been indications that Moscow did not want Egyptian news modia to mako too much of the prosenco of Zakharov and his military delegation, and tho tersonoas and blandness of Cairo's announcement of his departuro probably reflects that policy. Nevertheless, the nature
r
of the announcement also suggests that Zakharov's visit, while not unsuccessful, was at least inconclusive.
15. Given numerous indications of Sovietwith the Arab military performance, it Is likely that Moscow will want future aid commitments accompanied by more offective Soviet control, especially closer supervision of training and greater assurance that tho equipment will bo used and maintained more effectively. It seems clear, however, that questions concerning future Soviet military aid have yet to be answered in Moscow; thorc still is no evidence that the Soviets intend to become directly involved militarily in the Middle East.
Original document.
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