An 18-hour practice mobilization by Israel’s armed forces ended this morning. It was described by military circles as remarkably successful. No details were disclosed. The purpose of the exercise was to determine how long it would take to call up the reserves, equip them and send them off to battle in case of an emergency. Several thousand reserve soldiers were involved.
The call up order, issued by Gen. Yekutiel Adam, Chief of Operations at General Headquarters, was broadcast at noon yesterday by radio and television and repeated hourly throughout the day. Aircraft dropped leaflets containing the orders over Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba and other large population centers.
Reservists were ordered to report to their units, designated by code names. The owners of private vehicles recruited for national service were instructed to bring them to pre-arranged areas for registration. Israel took the precaution of informing the neighboring Arab states in advance that the mobilization was only a practice exercise.
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