Israel Reports Egypt Working on 6 to 15 New Sites Ready to House Missiles

Israel’s last two complaints about Egyptian missile construction during the standstill cease-fire–her fourth and fifth–dealt with work on six to 15 new missile sites, according to reliable sources. Those are in addition to the six to 15 missile-equipped sites reported by Israel on Aug. 19. The newly reported bases are not yet equipped with missiles, but their installation is a matter of only hours. This means that since the early part of last week Egypt has doubled or more than doubled her positions along the Suez Canal, and those positions are effective more than 20 kilometers (12 1/2 miles) into the Israeli half of the cease-fire zone, which is 50 kilometers (31 miles) wide. Israel’s fifth complaint was registered with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) yesterday. Its fourth complaint was registered on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today from reliable sources in Jerusalem that the United States has in fact accepted the main points of the Israeli charges, but it is not yet clear whether Washington will publicly admit it, having gone on record as saying the charges were “very difficult to prove or disprove.” The new American position, it was learned, was conveyed to Israel in high-level talks over the weekend in Jerusalem and Washington, including meetings in the Israeli capital between Foreign Minister Eban and U.S. Ambassador Walworth Barbour. It was also learned that Israel will continue to observe the standstill cease-fire provisions no matter what Egypt does–as long as that policy is compatible with Israeli national security.