War with Arabs is Imminent, Israel’s Army Chief of Staff Says

“War with the Arab countries is imminent,” Israel Army Chief of Staff Gen. Moshe Dayan declared here today at a rally in honor of Reserve Officers Day. This, he said, was the only interpretation that could be placed on the repeated Arab declarations that they would annihilate Israel.

Dwelling on Arab intrigues and provocations against Israel, Gen, Dayan pointed out that until the Arab states’ “zero hour” arrives, the Arab countries are doing everything in their power to weaken Israel, This campaign, he asserted, includes the Arab attempt to disrupt German reparations payments to Israel and the economic blockade of the Jewish State.

In the light of these facts, Gen. Dayan said, the Israel Army is now faced with two choices: either to hoard the weapons it has, or to make a strenuous effort to acquire modern arms such as the Arab states already have. Israel will take the second course, he declared, and will make great sacrifices to buy arms “for the war which the Arabs would force on us.”

Gen. Dayan called on the reserve officers to pay special attention to the training of some 50,000 immigrant youths how living in transit camps. He said that the halting of immigration had meant a shortage of manpower for the Jewish State. Former Premier David Ben Gurion and Defense Minister Pinchas Lavon were among the speakers at the rally. (At the time the Bulletin went to press they had not yet spoken)

Earlier, speaking at Elath, Israel port on the Gulf of Aqaba, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, Gen. Dayan declared that Israel would not permit the Egyptians to turn “the open sea (the gulf) into a closed lake for Israel. ” Despite the Egyptian blockade of the gulf, he said, Elath “would fulfill its destiny and become Israel’s gate for trade with Africa and the south Asian countries.”