The warning carried by the Moscow radio this week in Arabic urging the Arab rulers at the Cairo summit meeting “not to transform the state of war existing between Israel and the Arab countries into a bloody battle” simultaneously incited the Arabs against Israel’s plan to carry water from the Jordan River and Lake Tiberias to the Negev, according to the text of the broadcast monitored here.
Describing as “criminal attitude Israel’s decision to divert the Jordan waters to the Negev,” Moscow radio told its Arab listeners that “if Israeli extremist succeed in completing this project, it will have serious consequences for thousands of Arab peasants,” who the Moscow radio claimed “will be forced to abandon their villages in the Jordan Valley and seek livelihood elsewhere.
The Moscow broadcasts repeated the usual Communist propaganda the that Israel is acting as a tool of American imperialism and claimed that the cause of the “present Israeli Arab conflict” is the unwillingness of Israel, the United States and NATO “to respect the rights and interests of the Arab countries.”
The Moscow broadcasts also told the Arab listeners of reports that “the Tel Aviv rulers” have begun massing armed forces along the borders. However, none of the broadcasts monitored so far has come out with a promise of Soviet support for the Arabs in case of military action against Israel’s water scheme.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
