Prisoners of Was Exchange Begins in Palestine; 7,000 Arsbs, 1,200 Jews Affected

A general exchange of Arab and Jewish prisoners-of-war throughout Palestine was begun today. It will affect, in all, 7,000 Arab and 1,200 Israeli war-prisoners,

Under an agreement between Col. Moshe Dayan, commander of the Israeli forces in Jerusalem, and Lt. Col. Abdullah el Tel, commander of the Arab Legion, 157 Arab war-prisoners, mostly Palestinian irregulars, were handed over to the Transjordan forces this afternoon. The exchange of prisoners is expected to be completed in several weeks.

According to the records of the International Red Cross, the Arab war-prisoners held by the Israeli forces consist of 5,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Egyptians, with the rest comprised of Syrian, Iraqi, Trans Jordanian and Lebanese. Some 700 Israeli prisoners are held by the Arab Legion at the Mafrak camp in Trans Jordan. Syria holds some 45 Israeli prisoners, Lebanon has a very small number and the rest are held by the Egyptian Army.

Yaacov Dori, Israeli Army chief of staff, at a meeting in Tel Aviv this weekend revealed that Israel’s future peace-time army will consist of a small regular force and a large body of trained militia in reserve. This peace-time army, Dori said, would make up for its lack of size by concentrating on increased fire power. The civilian population will be trained and ready to be mobilized in “an instant” in the event of an emergency.

He pointed out that since Israel is a small country, each town and settlement must be converted into a “bastion of defense” with its own arms supplies and manpower reserve. Each border colony must be converted into a fortress, he added. He pointed out that the security of the state does not depend on military victories alone, but also on planning. Because of the country’s great need for manpower to expand its industrial and agricultural horizons the army’s personnel will not be changed much.

Addressing the same meeting, Levi Eshkol, Jewish Agency executive and a former leader of the Hagansh, stated that the population of Israel will soon treble, with 25 percent of its inhabitants engaged in agricultural pursuits. The “conquest of the armed forces,” he declared, must now be followed by the “conquest of settlement.”