Speculation about a possible in place cease-fire abated today after Defense Minister Moshe Dayan observed yesterday on television that he thought the Arabs did not want a formal-cease-fire now or later and that the war might just peter out de facto after their defeat. After Premier Golda Meir’s press conference Saturday night when she pointedly refused to rule out the possibility of cease-fire with Egyptians on both banks of the Suez Canal, speculation was rife on the subject. There were reports from the U.S. that Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and the Soviets were discussing the idea.
What put the damper on it according to sources here were statements from Syria’s Information Minister and from Egyptian spokesmen that they did not want a cease-fire. Because Arabs do not want it, the Russians are not pressing for it, nor are Israel or America.
Observers here said it seemed clear that Egypt will not contemplate a cease-fire in the foreseeable future – no matter what the battlefield brings her. If the Egyptian Army is thrown back across the canal, there will be no inducement for Cairo to accept a cessation. If they merely get mauled but retain their foothold in Sinai, they will not want formal ending of hostilities, just as they do not want it now when they have their army there more or less intact, observers said.
KNESSET ELECTIONS POSTPONED
The Central Elections Committee headed by Supreme Court Justice Haim Cohn announced today it could not prepare the Knesset elections in time for Oct. 30. The Committee explained that the war made it impossible, and noted that it would, anyway, be detrimental to the war effort to have elections in the midst of hostilities even if it were technically possible.
All the parties agree that elections should be postponed and the major parties decided today to set up a committee to prepare special legislation prolonging this Parliament. The one point still under debate is what to write into the law about the date elections will be held. One Labor view is to set a date in mid-December. Another Lab-or view suggests a formula “one month after the war’s end.” One Gahal view was to hold the elections at the end of Nov. The special committee will confer with the Attorney General and with Justice Cohn and will then decide. The law must be passed before Oct. 30.
TOTAL SUPPORT FOR VOLUNTARY WAR LOAN
Israelis from all walks of live, and even Israeli Arabs, are rallying strongly in support of the voluntary war loan. The committee headed by Gen. Yitzhak Rabin to raise IL 1 billion reported to the Cabinet yesterday that since it started to function last Thursday, IL 320 million had been raised. This morning the amount reportedly stood at IL 350 million and was increasing hourly.
The sum does not include pledges by salaried persons, government officials and employes and scores of other groups to contribute all or part of a month’s income to the emergency loan fund. The Cabinet ministers each pledged one month’s salary. So have the Supreme Court justices, director generals and top civil servants in government departments, 1200 employes of the Jewish National Fund, municipal employes and the doctors of several hospitals.
Knesset members and Kadis (the judges of Moslem courts), have pledged a month’s salary. The chairman of the World Union of Nazi Victims, Tuvia Friedman, has urged recipients of German reparations to commit one month’s pension to the war fund. The Tel Aviv Hevra Kadisha (Burial Society) has contributed IL 250,000 and has urged other burial societies to do the same. WIZO has pledged IL 1 million and its president, Mrs. Raya Jaglom, has made a personal subscription of IL 50,000. The newspapers Maariv and Yediot Achronot each gave IL 300,000 and the Jerusalem Post IL 200,000. The 19 top diamond manufacturers pledged IL 16 million.
The union of attorneys employed by the government said its members would contribute six months’ back pay due them to the war loan. The Bank of Israel has authorized the nation’s banks to make interest free loans to wage earners who want to borrow sums to contribute to the war loan which they will pay back over a six-month period from their wages.
The Cabinet appointed Nahum Golan, a former army officer and head of the Jewish Agency’s aliya offices in the U.S., “to coordinate the voluntary activity from abroad of Jewish professional volunteers. The activity will be conducted mainly within the framework of the Jewish Agency.” The Cabinet announced yesterday that it would call the Knesset into special session tomorrow to pass laws for compulsory war loans and to adopt a special war budget.
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