Goodell: Mideast May Be Russia’s Vietnam; Rabin: Israel Will Maintain Aerial Freedom

Sen. Charles Goodell said today that the Middle East could become a “Russian Vietnam.” The New York Republican referred to the growing escalation of Soviet manpower and military equipment in Egypt. “We know from our own bitter experience (in Vietnam) how easy it is for a great military power, once it provides military advisers to an under-developed country with little capacity or inclination for self-defense, to slide from ‘training’ local forces to carrying out ‘defensive’ missions, to bearing the main brunt of the fighting,” he said. Sen. Goodell, whose remarks were delivered at the convention of Brith Shalom, a Jewish fraternal order, at Kiamesha Lake, N.Y., said the next step in Soviet escalation might be “a Russian missile umbrella over the (Suez) canal” supplemented by Soviet air cover for Egyptian artillery and even ground offensives against the Israeli-held east bank of the waterway. He said that in contrast, israel threatens no new Vietnam for the United States. Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, emerged from a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Joseph J, Sisco Friday and told newsmen that his country intends to maintain full freedom of action for its airforce in the Suez combat zone. He did not specify what action Israel would take to maintain its aerial supremacy in face of the Soviet missile strength. But it was clear that Israel has informed the U.S. that it intended to sharply step up air raids on missile installations in Egypt. The intention was apparently conveyed by Gen. Rabin to Mr. Sisco and the Israeli envoy appeared more confident than usual that the U.S. would replace Israeli aircraft losses over the canal zone.

Gen. Rabin sidestepped a direct question as to whether his government had received a commitment of such support from Washington. “I’m always an optimist. I believe we will have the means to cope” with the new situation. Ambassador Rabin said. Observers here recalled Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ assertion last March 23 that “The United States will be in a position to provide additional as well as replacement aircraft promptly if the situation requires it.” But State Department spokesman Carl Bartch declined comment last Thursday on reports in the semi-official Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram that the U.S. has agreed to send Israel six Phantom jets to replace those shot down over the canal in the past two weeks. Israel conceded the loss of three jets between June 30 and July 5 but did not say what type they were. Egypt has claimed downing two Phantoms and two Skyhawks. But Mr. Bartch said he did not know of any U.S. replacement commitment. That remark seemed to contradict Secretary Rogers’ explicit pledge of Mar. 23.

BEAM, GROMYKO MEET IN MOSCOW; THANT, NIXON MEET IN WASHINGTON; MIDEAST ON BOTH AGENDAS

Diplomatic moves on the Middle East centered on Moscow over the week-end. President Gamal Abdel Nasser, of Egypt postponed his return to Cairo for the second time since last Sunday, giving rise to speculation that he and Kremlin leaders were awaiting some major development before issuing their expected Joint communique. U.S. Ambassador Jacob Beam met with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko in Moscow Friday but both American and Soviet officials refused to say what they had discussed or how long their talks lasted. Diplomats here and abroad said the secrecy indicated that a critical stage had been reached in an effort to find a peace formula for the Mideast. Some sources said that Ambassador Beam and Mr. Gromyko had discussed the latest U.S. peace initiative announced by Secretary of State Rogers on June 26. There has been no official Soviet reaction made public so far. But the Russian foreign affairs weekly, Novoye Vremya, indicated last week that the reaction wasn’t entirely negative. An article, signed by R. Petrov, said “the general direction of the new proposals by the United States seems this time to be closer to the legitimate aspirations of the Arab countries.” The article added, however, “in the conditions of the stubborn refusal of ruling Israeli circles to fulfill the November (22,1967) resolution of the Security Council, all these American actions can only make us cautious.” There was virtually no comment here on the substance of a new Soviet Mideast proposal released by the Russian Embassy in London last Thursday and promptly denounced by the Israel government.

United Nations Secretary General U Thant had an hour-long meeting with President Nixon here Friday afternoon. Earlier, addressing a luncheon given in his honor by members of Congress, Mr. Thant referred to Vietnam and the Middle East. He called the former the “most colossal horror story ever written by man” and intimated that he felt the Middle East was potentially as dangerous as southeast Asia. But Mr. Thant reiterated the statement he made a few days earlier in Geneva that both he and the UN’s special Mideast envoy, Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring, had agreed that there was at present no basis for reactivating the latter’s peace-seeking mission. Mr. Thant appealed to the permanent members of the Security Council–United States, Soviet Russia, Britain, France and Nationalist China–to exert all their efforts to secure Mideast peace through implementing the Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution. He urged them to work in such a way as to lay foundations on which Dr. Jarring could resume his mediating efforts. Mr. Thant said that the Soviet Union and the three Western powers had a special responsibility for peace in the Mideast and should involve themselves directly in seeking it.