General Yitzhak Rabin, Israel Chief of Staff, declared today that Israel would face serious threats to its security this year from Arab countries, but that he believed such threats need not be taken at “their full face value.”
He told a graduating class of infantry and paratroop cadets that future security developments would depend “largely on what counter-measures were taken by Israel.” He cited the clashes on the Syrian-Israel border in recent months and called the Syrian attacks serious, adding that there was a danger the outbreaks would spread to a greater extent than in the past.
Speaking shortly before the 13 Arab Premiers, meeting in Cairo, issued in a communique opposing aid to Israel by other countries, Gen. Rabin predicted that Israel could not count on the ability of Lebanon to withstand Arab pressures for a united anti-Israel Arab front. His prediction proved to be accurate. Lebanon, which had balked at plans to use its territory for the joint Arab effort to lower the level of the Jordan River, and thus deny use of its waters to Israel for its huge Negev irrigation program, signed the communique yesterday.
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.
