Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-10-22
a Shot at IsrceI


During the past few weeks.
the situation In the Middle
East, especially that concern
ing the balance Of power be-
tween the Arab states and Is-
rael, has been widely discussed
! IN the press. In my capacity as
the military representative OF
an Arab country. I wish to sub
NIT my observations on this
subject.
In theory, the balance Of
power between two parties
means both should have equal
military power. But the ball
ance Of power between the
Arab countries and Israel does
not entail that Israel should
have military power equivalent
to all Arab countries. for rea-
sons which / win explain later.
Let lis assume. however. for the
sake Of argument. that this
equilibrium is right, and md
out whether the balance of
power between the two parties
is actually In existence.
Kennett Love, New York
Times correspondent in the
Middle East. reported on Au-
gust Is from Tel Aviv that aIs-
rael could mobilize 100000
fighting men within 48 hours
and put them into battlefront
almost Immediately" He then
estimated the total Arab
League strength at 100000
men and said. 'sThe Israeli
forces are relatively so formi-
dable that the only Arab hope
would be in guerrilla warfare
against the ISraeliS in whatever
territory the Israelis might feel
obliged to occupy"
Mr.. Love disclosed that he
received these figures from Is
raeli military authorities and
he confirmed that in his report
from Cairo. published in the
New York Times on October 9,
adding that 1.-THE figures on
the Arab armies numerical
strength supplied to this corr
spondent in August by Israeli
intelligence officers coincide
almost exactly with the figures
obtained from sources in Arab
countries
These facts leave no doubt
about Israels superiority in
military forces over the Arabs.
As to ornaments, there is no
doubt that Israel also is supe-
rior in this respect. For it
stands to logic that when Israel
declares she could put 100000
fighting men into battle lines
In 4S hours. she certainly must
have arms for them. To con-
firm this. I would like to refer
to declarations made on two
occasions by Shimon Peretz,
director general Of the Israeli
Ministry Of Defense. On the
first occasion. reported on April
81. Mr.. Peretz declared that
the Israeli military industries
are producing arms for export
an1that Israel had sold Burma
military equipment worth $40
million. On the second occa-
sion. reported on October 4.
Mr.. Peretz disclosed that: Ben
Gurion drew up q program for
the arning of the Israeli de-
Tense Rforces. Thanks to the
generous attitude of the French
government. which provided us
with the guns and tanks seen
'on independence Day, more
than two-thirds of this pro-
gram was accomplished In the
past two years" He then said.
THE artillery corps has made
considerable progress; with re-
gard to most types Of guns we
have approached the satura-
ton point" He also added that
"our armored regiment grew
into Q brigade, the brigade be-
came Q corps and the corps
was consolidated" He then
said. I'VE purchased modern
planes which gave US o new air
superiority" Then added, "Our
armament industry was in
creased--we began TO produce
new types of weapons and
manufacture shells and rock
cts. In the past year this in
6-Stry saved us millions Of
pounds and earned us many
millions Of pounds through ex-
ports He lastly said, with
regard to acquisition Of arms.
we have provided Israel with
superiority over the Arab
states"
AL this information shows
clearly that Israel Is not only