Israel, Egypt Taking Measures in Sinai on Assumption That Unef Mandate May Not Be Renewed

Egyptian and Israeli forces in Sinai have each taken specific military measures based on the supposition that the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) may be withdrawn from the buffer zone when its mandate expires next Thursday, July 24, it was reported here today. The likelihood is that the force will remain, at least until the United Nations Security Council, meeting this week, determines its fate. (See separate story p.4)

Egypt’s announcement last week that it would not agree to an extension of the UNEF mandate did not include a demand for its withdrawal or a statement of non-cooperation. But the Israeli army is taking no chances and is preparing itself for a situation in which it would be in direct confrontation with the Egyptian army with no interposition of UN forces between them for the first time since the end of the Yom Kippur War. Such a situation, even if it does not lead to hostile incidents, would create considerable tension in Sinai.

Former Minister of Information Gen, Aharon Yariv, said Friday, however, that the Egyptian decision not to renew the UNEF mandate was a political one without military significance. Yariv, who negotiated the Kilometer 101 cease-fire agreement with Egyptian officers after the Yom Kippur War, insisted that even if Egypt carried out its threat not to extend the UNEF mandate, there was no reason for alarm from a military point of view. But he conceded that Cairo’s move could sabotage negotiations for an interim settlement with Israel.

“There is a danger that if the situation gets out of hand it may jeopardize negotiations toward a new interim settlement, but this should worry Egypt more than Israel,” Yariv said on a radio interview. He rejected comparisons between the situation now and that of May, 1967 when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered UN forces out of the Sinai and Gaza Strip thus precipitating the Six-Day War.

GOLAN SITUATION OF GREATER CONCERN

Israeli military circles appeared less concerned about the situation in Sinai than that on the Golan Heights front with Syria where the departure of the Peruvian battalions last Friday left the United Nations Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) with only 900 men, well below the 1250 called for under the terms of the Israeli-Syrian disengagement agreement. Senior Israeli officers have approached UNDOF commander Gen. Ensio Siilasvuo with requests that he do everything possible to bring his forces back to full strength.

Although the UNDOF mandate will not expire for another three months, the Israeli military believes that with the departure of the Peruvians the force is insufficient to man the surveillance posts and carry out its inspection duties on both sides of the lines. UNDOF is now composed mainly of Austrian units which have to split their forces between the Syrian and Israeli sides of the Golan buffer zone. The rest of the force is made up of Canadian and Polish contingents which are occupied mainly with logistics problems.