Special Interview Sharon Warns That U.S. Role As Arms Supplier to Arabs Can Cause New War

Gen. (Res.) Ariel Sharon, the Israeli officer who led the Suez Canal crossing during the Yom Kippur War, warned that the U.S. role in the last three years as a major arms supplier to the Arabs can cause a new Mideast war.

In a special interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Sharon detailed the military aid given to the Arabs by the United States, the Soviet Union and other sources since the Yom Kippur War. He said he obtained the figures from the United States Congressional Record. The Arabs, Sharon said, received about $11 billion in U.S. military aid since 1974, while the Soviet Union supplied the Arabs during the same period the equivalent of $6 billion in arms. Great Britain and France, according to Sharon, supplied the Arabs with another $3 billion worth of arms.

Military aid to Israel from the U.S. (its only source of weapons) since the Yom Kippur War and including 1977 is, according to Sharon, the equal of $5.5 billion. “All the contentions of American officials about a policy aimed at a balance of power between Israel and the Arabs have no grounds in reality,” Sharon stated, claiming that two major arsenals are being built in the Mideast: one, in Saudi Arabia by the U.S.; and the other in Libya by the Soviet Union.

DETAILS ARAB MILITARY BUILD-UP

To illustrate the massive military build-up by the Arabs, Sharon gave the following breakdown of military items supplied to Egypt by the Soviet Union in the last three years: 1000 tanks, of which 600 are T-62 models and 400 T-ss models; 1200 armored personnel carriers; 750 heavy guns of different types; 100 MIG-21 jet fighters; 40 MIG-23 jet fighters and different types of missiles including the Scud and SAM types.

“It is obvious that the Russians do not think that they have lost their influence in the Mideast,” Sharon said. He contended that all the weapons that were delivered to the so-called non-confrontation states in the Mideast, will eventually be transferred to the Arab states bordering Israel. He said this was proven in the Yom Kippur War when Mirage jets supplied by France to Libya were used by the Egyptians. He also pointed out that since 1968, Saudi forces are in control of the Jordanian side of the border with Israel between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba.

SINAI ACCORD VIOLATIONS

Turning to the second Sinai interim agreement signed between Israel and Egypt, September, 1975, Sharon contended that Egypt and the U.S. alike violated the agreement. He said that the number of Egyptian troops east of the Suez Canal is three times larger than the agreement allows. He also accused Egypt of violating the political part of the agreement, where it was stated that Egypt will refrain from anti-Israel actions, diplomatic and propaganda-wise.

Sharon said that Egypt, for instance, exerted pressure on Spain recently not to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a move which is clearly contrary to the agreement. The U.S. violates its part of the agreement, Sharon charged by “not raising its voice” on issues of Egyptian propaganda against Israel and the Arab boycott.

“All in all, it is clear that interim agreements did not bring us closer to peace. I hope that the next U.S. Administration will take action to reach a comprehensive settlement in the Mideast.” Sharon asserted.

He said his present visit here had two goals: to urge American Jewry to “intervene” in everything that happens in Israel and not only to give money, and to keep watch on the American election system. He said he will visit the U.S. again in January to continue to seek to persuade American Jewry that it is important that it take a greater role in Israel’s life.