Russians Over Egypt

...Dayan's cautions and Mrs...

...Not surprisingly, the fact that today's Russian Army—and the individual Russian soldier—are unknown quantities to the Israeli has considerably heightened his sense of peril...

...This last possibility alone is seen here as sufficient reason for Washington to reverse its decision to "hold in abeyance" Israel's request to purchase additional Phantom and Skyhawk fighter planes...

...At ceremonies commemorating the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, some speakers suggested that Moscow, in providing massive support to Nasser's war machine, was trying to help the Arabs complete what Hitler had begun...

...Meir's admonitions indicate that for the time being Israel is dividing Egypt into three zones...

...She thus reflected the feeling here that daily air attacks against 700-odd pieces of Soviet-supplied heavy artillery on the Canal's west bank are vital to Israel's maintaining its defenses on the eastern side with a tolerable level of casualties...

...That is why Israelis are watching the consequences, both in Indochina and the U.S., of President Nixon's Cambodia policy...

...Obviously, where the Russians are concerned they have had neither the need nor the chance to perfect similar intelligence procedures...

...the memories of traditional Russian anti-Semitism...

...the Russians will hold to their present self-imposed military restraints, or what might happen if there is an Israeli-Soviet confrontation in the "gray" area...

...Should he succeed to any reasonable degree, even indirect warnings about the Middle East would be taken seriously in Moscow...

...they were still no match for Israeli pilots, but they tried...

...So, side by side with speculation in the press about what the Russians could do in the Middle East if they really wanted to, one finds no less convincing commentaries about what the Russians cannot do under the present circumstances...

...Na-hum Goldman, President of the World Jewish Congress, and Nasser...

...The third, the wide "gray" area in between, will continue to be the scene of occasional forays by Israeli aircraft against installations and facilities directly supporting the Egyptian war effort in the Canal region...

...This is apparent from the diminished public debate over the government's decision to torpedo a possible meeting between Dr...

...Add to this the Jews' historic suspicion of all things Russian...

...Everyone agrees, though, on what the Russian pilots have already achieved without firing a single shot: The number of Israeli soldiers killed along the Suez Canal in April 1970 rose to 28-—the same as in June 1969, the peak month of Egypt's "war of attrition," and nearly three times the average during the "quiet war" of the preceding six to eight months...

...Defense Minister Moshe Dayan?widely characterized as a hawk?has gone to great lengths to stress the potential dangers of an armed clash with Russian soldiers, and to reiterate that Israel hopes for some kind of "coexistence" with the Soviets in Egyptian air space...

...How long it will be possible to maintain this division is another matter...

...Anxiety has been expressed in several recent newspaper articles, which have stressed that Israel's easy superiority over the Arabs should not mislead anyone into believing the same quality gap exists in the case of Soviet soldiers...

...And now more than ever the wide buffer of Sinai, which separates the Israelis from the growing Egyptian war machine, is considered vital as an early warning area and for providing several hundred miles of advance battle ground...

...And the actual number of Egyptian planes available for duty in the combat zone has gone up considerably since the Russians took over protection of the hinterlands...

...Indeed, the popular response to Russia's expanded role in Egypt has been considerably tougher than the official reactions of the Cabinet...

...elsewhere in the world...

...Israeli planes, she said, will be forced to shoot at Russian pilots if they try to interfere in the Suez Canal zone...

...Arab refusal to talk peace has always been interpreted here as confirmation of the suspicion that they wanted Israel to retreat to the pre-June 1967 lines only as a preliminary to an all-out attack...

...No one can say whether Eliahu Salpeter is the managing editor of the daily Ha'aretz...

...Should they try several more times—as seems likely now-and fail, Soviet pilots may be dragged into the shooting...

...Thus, no matter what else the presence of Russian tighter pilots in Egypt may lead to, it has already made the slim chances of a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Arabs even more remote...

...Some Israeli officials, expressing a widespread feeling in Jerusalem, have gone so far as to say quite openly that "mild signs"—such as offering Israel Phantoms—are no longer sufficient to deter Moscow, more explicit warnings are needed...

...Clearly, Russian support has boosted Egypt's morale and readiness to fight...

...Over the years, Israeli military planners have developed not only a keen instinct but also more accurate means of predicting probable enemy decisions...

...Meanwhile, the increased danger to its security has again stiffened Israel's resistance to any arrangements that would give it less than formal peace...

...Nasser's pilots even had the courage to stage hit-and-run attacks along the Canal last month, as well as to attempt one or two interceptions of Israeli planes...

...It was Prime Minister Golda Meir who voiced the clearest warnings to Moscow...

...the numerous contemporary examples of Moscow's disregard for basic rules of international relations—and you have the key elements of Israel's uneasiness over the appearance of Soviet fighter pilots on the side of its most formidable enemy in the Arab camp...

...THE ISRAELI REACTION Russians Over Egypt BY ELIAHU SALPETER Tel Aviv It was a grim coincidence that news of the Soviet air patrols over central Egypt was published here shortly before the Memorial Day of the Holocaust...

...The prospect of an overwhelming military force coming to the Arabs' aid inevitably evokes nightmares of World War II for the many Israelis who are survivors of the Nazi extermination program, or the relatives of its victims...

...Nor is the hardening of Israel's standard simply a reflex reaction to the Soviet air presence in Egypt...

...Most Israelis are sophisticated enough to recognize, however, that before the Russians could launch a major, sustained ground operation against Israel they would have to undertake logistical preparations and supply forces far in excess of their current commitment...

...While the total number of Egyptian aircraft may not have increased faster than expected when the decision was announced, Egypt's effective air power has—if only because migs piloted by Russians are a greater threat to Israel than the same migs flown by Egyptians...

...What is thought necessary, in fact, exceeds the boundaries of normal U.S.-Soviet jockeying in the Middle East and could assume the proportions of a credibility crisis not unlike those facing the U.S...

...The first, embracing Cairo, Alexandria, the Aswan Dam and other areas deep inside the United Arab Republic, apparently will not be subject to attack...

...The second, the vicinity around the armistice line, will remain under intense pressure from Israeli jets even if this means running the risk of engaging the Russians...

...General Dayan, of course, has repeated that Israel is determined to retain the present ceasefire lines until the Egyptians are ready to talk peace...

...If Washington does not change its policy in the light of the latest Soviet move, it is argued, Moscow will surely see this as carte blanche to further extend its involvement...

...Israelis arc convinced, too, that the White House "hold" was interpreted in Moscow as a sign of American hesitancy, encouraging the new Soviet position in Egypt...

...Should failure in the field or turmoil at home compel him to retreat, it would take great, and possibly dangerous, muscle-flexing to convince the Kremlin that in the Middle East Washington really means business...

...Perhaps equally important, the new Russian presence has thrown Jerusalem's advance warning system out of kilter...