Ben-gurion Says June War May Not Have Been Last One with Arabs

Former Premier David Ben-Gurion told a group of visiting American Conservative rabbis here today that, because the Soviet Union is supporting the Arab cause, there was no certainty that the June Arab-Israeli war “was the last one.”

He told the delegation of members of the Rabbinical Assembly of America that ” we are dealing not only with the Arabs but also with the Soviet Union, which continues to supply arms to the Arabs.” He said also that he did not believe that the Soviets wanted Israel’s destruction but that they were well aware that the arms they were sending to the Arabs were destined for use against Israel.

Asserting that it was the Soviet Union which was actually defeated in the June clash, he declared that the USSR had, had the lesson that it could not rely on the Arab armed forces “and we must wait for the consequences Russia will draw.”

He also told the visiting rabbis that there was an urgent need to settle thousands of Jews in Jerusalem and the surrounding area without uprooting any of the present Arab inhabitants there and to settle Israel’s Negev desert. He said both places must be industrialized at the earliest possible time.

Additional proof of active Soviet military aid to Syrian forces along the Israel border just prior to last month’s war has been uncovered with the discovery of photographs of Russian officers along with the Syrian units to which they were attached.

The photographs, found in homes in the Syrian heights now occupied by Israel, showed four Soviet colonels who participated in special reconnaissance units with the Syrians. The pictures showed the Russians posing with the Syrian members of the units. Captions identified two of the Russian officers as Col. Alexei Gebitieff and Col. Konstantin, both chief instructors on reconnaissance and described the two others as “technical advisers” on the same subject.