Mrs. Meir Warns Israel is Ready if Egypt Terminates Cease-fire

Premier Golda Meir warned today that Israel would be ready if the Suez cease-fire is terminated next month and Egypt resumes hostilities. She said Israel had agreed to the cease-fire last August in the hope that it would lead to a peace settlement. But she said her country could not accept “an agreement which is no agreement and assurances that are no assurances.” Mrs. Meir referred to Egypt’s agreement to observe the standstill clause of the truce which. Israel alleges, was violated by Egypt from the start. She claimed that Egyptian and Soviet assurances in that connection proved worthless. Mrs. Meir addressed a meeting of the United Labor Party which will soon hold its first inter-party elections. Assessing the Soviet position in the canal zone, Mrs. Meir said the Russians were realistic politicians anxious to avoid a confrontation with the United States. But she said the question remains how much weight recent American statements on the cease-fire violations will carry in Moscow.

Israeli intelligence sources reported today that there were at least several hundred Soviet personnel in the cease-fire zone manning the first line of SAM-3 and SAM-2 missiles and anti-aircraft batteries. Israeli military authorities meanwhile are not ignoring public statements by Egyptian officials in recent days that the shooting war in the Canal zone may be resumed after the cease-fire expires Nov. 5. They note that the Egyptians have given advance notice in the past of their military decisions. The late President Nasser announced his war of attrition policy before he actually launched it. Discussing the situation in Jordan, Mrs. Meir said Israel would remain alert to any changes of rule in that country. If Syrians or Iraqis established themselves in regions facing Israeli settlements, she said, Israel would have to take action which would not be intervention in Jordanian affairs but intervention to protect its citizens.