Nasser Declares Egypt is Ready to Fight, Blasts United States and Britain

President Gamal Abdel Nasser declared today that the Arab world had recovered from weapons losses in the 1967 Six-Day War and now had the military strength to fight Israel to recover territories lost in that war. “We have to fight,” he declared in a speech at Cairo University marking the 17th anniversary of the revolutionary seizure of power from King Farouk. He accused the United States of boosting arms shipments to Israel to “force” an Arab surrender and denounced Britain as well as the U.S. for support to Israel. He charged that the U.S. had gone back on a pledge to defend the freedom of all Mideast countries. He said it was not only “our right but our duty to fight to regain the occupied land and evict the Israeli forces” and he asserted the Arab world was “determined to fight for liberation and we are able to fight for liberation.”

He said that this month marked “the beginning of a new stage,” an apparent reference to a series of artillery duels and commando raids against Israeli positions on the east bank of the Suez Canal. He asserted that the Arab situation was “different” from that of 1967 or 1968. The Soviet Union has replaced most of the air and ground weapons Egypt lost in the Six-Day War.

President Nasser accused Israel of ignoring the Nov. 22, 1967 Security Council resolution by refusing to withdraw from the occupied territories, a refusal he charged was being “blessed” by the U.S. He repeatedly charged that the U.S. was giving Israel support to continue its “aggression” against Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The Arab response, he said, will be to “stand our ground. We shall fight and sacrifice. Martyrs and heroes of ours will fall but our banners on the land will not be lowered.” He said Israel could not “persist” unless it was certain that it had pledges to insure its supremacy–“supremacy in weapons.”