Israel’s Need to Re-equip Its Armed Forces with Heavy Weapons Stressed

The need for Israel to re-equip its armed forces with heavier weapons in view of the possibility that the Jewish State may soon be completely surrounded by the United Arab Republic headed by the Egyptian dictator, Col. Nasser, was emphasized here today. It was also stressed that the time was ripe for a request for such arms from the Western Powers, particularly from the United States.

Middle East experts in Israel are of the opinion that the Arab states in the area are permanently lost to the West. They foresee no change in the situation in Iraq without direct intervention by the Western Powers, and they think it highly unlikely that such intervention will take place.

This lack of a strong Western reaction to the revolt in Iraq, it is believed, will spur President Nasser of the United Arab Republic to further plans aimed at attaching to the UAR the whole of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and, eventually, to the extension of UAR influence over Sudan and all of North Africa.

This prediction is based by the Israel experts on the assumption that both Lebanon and Jordan will become UAR satellites very soon. King Hussein of Jordan is seen as remaining in power only with the help of British troops while the Lebanon rebels, who might have agreed to the succession of President Chamoun by a Maronite, now were believed determined to join Nasser’s “federation.”

The rush of events in Iraq has revived here suggestions for the construction of a 32-inch pipeline from Elath, on the Gulf of Akaba, to the Mediterranean cost as an alternative to Western dependence on pipelines through Arab territory or on the Suez Canal. The present line from Elath to the Mediterranean is an eight-inch diameter tube with a capacity of about 5, 000, 000 tons annually.