Israel officials were reported today to be watching closely the inter-Arab rivalries evoked by the revolution in Amman, particularly the activities of Egypt, which is taking an active role in the Yemen turmoil.
Informed opinion here was that President Nasser of Egypt was seeking to strike at Saudi Arabia, which has been aiding the Royal Family in Yemen against the revolutionaries, and at Jordan, a Saudi Arabian ally, by his intervention in the Civil War. It was reliably reported here that the number of Egyptian troops taking part in that war was greater than the number of Yemen royalist soldiers, and that almost an entire Egyptian armored brigade was fighting with the revolutionaries.
The Egyptian radio, monitored here, has broadcast charges that Israel is in collusion with Great Britain against the new Republican regime, and is permitting the movement “across Israel air space” of British-supplied military planes bound for Amman, Jordan, “for counter-revolutionary service in Yemen.”
Egypt charged that Israel fears Yemen independence may lead to sealing the Israel Red Sea access, and hence is “secretly” collaborating with Saudi Arabian, Jordanian, and Western “reactionaries” to squelch the Yemeni revolution. The Cairo domestic service said Israel “quickly assented” to permit air reinforcements bound for Jordan “to pass through the air space of the usurped land (Israel).”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
