State Department Denies Administration Has Decided to Sell Phantom Jets to Israel

The State Department officially denied yesterday a report that appeared in the New York Times Friday that the Nixon administration has decided to sell Israel the Phantom jet and Skyhawk aircraft and other weapons it has requested. Department spokesman John King described the Times’ report as “inaccurate.” White House spokesmen said they had nothing to add to President Nixon’s statement at his Jan. 30 press conference that he would decide within 30 days whether or not to supply Israel with the military aid requested by Premier Golda Meir when she visited Washington last September. American and Israeli diplomats here expressed “surprise” at the Times’ story. Mr. King said “No decision has been made on the matter. The Israeli request is under study.”

The Times said in an editorial today that if it’s report that President Nixon has decided to sell more Phantoms to Israel is correct, despite the State Department’s denial. “It represents a tragic but necessary decision.” The editorial observed that “there is no question of the increasing danger in the Middle East in the wake of what now looks like another round of escalated arms deliveries to this explosive region. It must be recognized that continued American arms supply, no matter how justified, is likely to encourage intransigence among the Israelis as they consolidate their hold in the occupied areas.”

The report and its denial came during a week-end of mounting diplomatic activity over the Middle East and a major escalation of fighting in that region. In Cairo, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt held a war council with King Hussein, of Jordan. President Noureddin Al-Atassi of Syria and representatives of the Iraqi and Sudanese governments as Israeli bombers pounded Egyptian Army camps and ammunition dumps as close as 16 miles away.

PRES. POMPIDOU REPORTED TO FAVOR RESTORATION OF MIDEAST CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT

On Friday, President Georges Pompidou of France reportedly proposed in a note to Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin, that the Four Powers call immediately for the restoration of the cease-fire agreements in the Mideast and a return of United Nations peace-keeping forces to that area. M. Pompidou’s note was said to have been delivered in Moscow Friday by the French Ambassador, Roger Seydoux. It reportedly urged re-doubled efforts by the United States, Soviet Russia, Britain and France to find a solution to the Mideast conflict. But it reportedly did not contain any proposal for the limitation of arms shipments to that area. A Middle East arms embargo was proposed by President Richard M. Nixon in a note to Premier Kosygin last week and a similar proposal was said to have been offered by Prime Minister Harold Wilson of Britain. The U.S., British and French notes were in reply to letters sent by Premier Kosygin to the three Western powers a week ago underlining the urgency of the Mideast situation and implying that Russia would accelerate its arms supplies to Egypt unless Israel was forced to curb its continuous bombardment of Egyptian territory. Mr. Kosygin also reportedly urged President Nixon to withhold further American arms from Israel.

According to the New York Times report by its Washington correspondent. Tad Szulc, President Nixon decided to provide new arms to Israel following the arrival of Mr. Kosygin’s note last week. Mr. Szulc attributed his information to “high official sources.” He said the decision involved at least 25 more Phantom jet fighter-bombers and more than 80 Skyhawk jet fighters. Mr. Szulc said the Administration was represented by his sources as believing the U.S. could not accept Soviet threats to ship more arms to Egypt if Washington did not “restrain” Israel. According to Mr. Szulc, the new Phantoms and Skyhawks would be delivered to Israel in 1971. The Administration was said to have deferred a decision on Israel’s request for financial assistance, part of which would be used to pay for the new aircraft. Israel has already taken delivery of an undisclosed number of Phantom jets authorized by the Johnson Administration more than a year ago in response to an Israeli request made in 1968. At least some of those planes are reportedly engaged in almost around-the-clock assaults on Egyptian military targets.

NASSER TELLS ARAB SUMMIT CONFERENCE TO MOBILIZE FOR WAR

The meeting in Cairo was described as a “summit” gathering of the Arab states involved in direct confrontation with Israel. That description applies to Egypt, Jordan and Syria but only partially to Iraq and not at all to the Sudan. Iraq has no common frontier with Israel but a substantial number of Iraqi troops are deployed in Jordan and Iraqi artillery has frequently shelled Israeli settlements across the cease-fire line.

According to reports from Cairo. President Nasser urged the other Arab nations to mobilize for war and declared that Egypt was determined on a solution by force of arms. The Egyptian leader also reportedly announced promises of strong new Soviet support for the Arab cause. The semi-official Cairo newspaper Al Ahram claimed that Soviet Premier Kosygin pledged “all that’s necessary” to the Arab states in his notes to the Western powers last week. According to the paper, Mr. Kosygin’s note said, “We want to put it to you very clearly that if Israel continues her adventurism, the Soviet Union would place at the disposal of Arab countries all that’s necessary for ousting the rude aggressors.

An Egyptian spokesman denied that President Nasser told Arab leaders either to decide to wage all-out war on Israel or resign and let others try to settle the conflict. The spokesman said, “We are fighters until death stops us. It is unconceivable that after all we have suffered and achieved we would run away from battle now.” President Al-Atassi, of Syria, reportedly rejected British and French proposals to the Soviet Union that the 1967 cease-fire be restored and that the United Nations Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution on the Mideast be re-affirmed as the basis for a solution. He reportedly told the meeting that Israel must withdraw unconditionally from the occupied Arab territories. Syria has never accepted the resolution though Egypt and Jordan claim that they are prepared to go along with it if Israel withdraws.