Israel Proposes Regional Mideast Disarmament Meeting

Israel proposed today a regional disarmament conference composed of all states in the Middle East to negotiate “a balanced reduction and limitation of forces in the area” in order to “alleviate the crippling burden of the arms race without adversely affecting the security or defensive capacity of any of our nations.”

The proposal was presented by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Chaim Herzog, in an address before the special session of the General Assembly on disarmament. Herzog warned that measures “can and must be taken to break the vicious cycle of the arms build-up in the Middle East” because “while the present escalation continues, the hope for peace remains remote.”

Herzog said that Israel reaffirms its readiness to participate in a conference of Middle East countries “to negotiate forthwith the establishment of a nuclear weapons-free zone” in the area. He strongly denied the charge made yesterday before the General Assembly by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kaamel of “nuclear collusion” between Israel and South Africa. He said that charge “is as false as the assertion that Israel has not agreed to a nuclear-free zone. We have repeatedly offered to enter negotiations for the creation of such a zone,” he said.

DESCRIBES ARAB ARMS BUILD-UP

The Israeli envoy devoted most of his 27-page speech to what he termed the “staggering” arms build-up of the Arab countries. He said that since 1967, the Arab states have ordered arms, to be supplied by 1980, in the amount of $35 billion of which $24 billion represented arms orders by Saudi Arabia alone. “Saudi arms orders until 1980 could supply the armies of the entire African continent as well as a majority of the NATO force,” he claimed. He contended that Saudi Arabia has become the largest single arms buyer in the world. He also claimed that the Iraqi army has doubled its divisions since 1973 and “they have become the major military power in the Arab world today.”

Herzog presented a break-down of Arab military power which, he said, was based on reports by the Institute for Strategic Studies in London and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. According to Herzog, the Arabs have 3000 more tanks and 700 more combat aircraft than NATO. “By 1980, the air power of the Arab states will equal the combined Warsaw Pact forces and constitute double the air power of NATO and three times that of the People’s Republic of China. In terms of ground forces, the Arab states have almost as many tanks as the U.S.A. and more artillery than the U.S.A. From every perspective–regional, global, economic–these figures are staggering,” he said.

Referring to current peace efforts in the Middle East, Herzog said, “We hope and trust that these negotiations will be resumed so that we continue to move with our neighbors on what we believe must be an irreversible course toward peace.” He added that “Israel believes that a similar break-through must occur in the field of disarmament and that another momentous step can and must be taken to break the vicious cycle of the arms build-up in the Middle East.”