Israeli Soldier Killed by Egyptian Fire; Israeli Soldier Wounded by Explosive Charge

An Israeli soldier was killed by Egyptian fire in the southern section of the Suez Canal zone last night. He was identified as Corp. Menahem Oblal, 20, of Magdiel. An Israeli soldier was wounded this morning when an explosive charge went off in a desolate area near the Lebanese border, north of Shetullah village. Two Gaza residents were injured by a hand grenade thrown into a street this morning. Several shells were fired from Syrian territory in the area of Nahal Golan last night. They caused no casualties or damage. The fire was returned. Israel Air Force jets continued to attack Egyptian anti-aircraft missile sites near Mansoura in the Nile valley Friday. The targets were less than 100 miles from Cairo. All planes returned safely. A military spokesman said the area around Mansoura is the main center of the Egyptian anti-aircraft defense line guarding the approaches to Cairo.

A friend of Yasha Kazakov accused the Israel government today of short circuiting the struggle by the 23-year-old Russian emigre to secure emigration rights for his family in Moscow. Boris Sperling claimed that the government did not wholeheartedly support young Kazakov’s eight-day hunger strike in front of United Nations headquarters in New York and actually “short circuited” it by calling on him to end his fast. Mr. Sperling, speaking at the Commercial and Industrial Club here, hinted at possible sympathy strikes in Israel. As long as the government fails to carry on the struggle in the way “we understand it should be conducted, we will abstain from our normal work and carry on the struggle openly, shouting aloud what we have to tell the world,” he said. Kazakov ended his fast last Thursday at the urging of his father, Joseph. The elder Kazakov telephoned his appeal from Moscow to the Israeli UN Mission. The message was conveyed to his son by Ambassador Yosef Tekoah, chief Israeli representative to the UN.

The young man, who was allowed to leave Russia a year ago and settled in Israel, will return here from New York tomorrow. Mr. Sperling predicted he would get a rousing welcome at the airport from Knesset members, fellow immigrants from the Soviet Union and friends. Sperling’s charges against the Israel government apparently were prompted by a Cabinet decision last Thursday to restrict “private initiatives” on behalf of Soviet Jews while continuing international initiatives on an official level. The proposal was adopted over the opposition of Haim Landau, the Minister of Development who represents the militant Herut faction. But no objections were raised by another Herut member of the Cabinet, Minister of Transport Ezer Weizman. (Jewish students at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg and Cape Town University held a one-day fast yesterday in solidarity with Yasha Kazakov. They signed a petition addressed to the Soviet government urging full rights for Jews including the right to leave for Israel.)