Israel proved to the United Nations today through captured top secret Egyptian army documents, that massive concentrations of troops and materiel in the Sinai Peninsula had been organized for the purpose of annihilating the Jewish State and not for defense.
Ambassador Abba Eban, chairman of Israel’s delegation here, today sent copies of the captured Egyptian documents to the president of the Security Council, with a request that the copies be circulated among all members of the United Nations. Dag Hammarskjold Secretary General, who has been given prime responsibility as the UN negotiator regarding the Middle East crisis, will also receive copies of these documents.
The documents show that not only had Egypt prepared vast armaments at its bases intended for Israel’s annihilation, but that the supplies of clothing, persona effects, and other such material were much larger than could possibly have been used by Egypt’s Sinal forces which numbered, at most, about 40,000 men. One item cited by Mr. Eban was blankets–of which 1,000,000 were captured by the victorious Israeli army as it swept through the Egyptian bases “Certainly, these men could not have used a million blankets, Mr. Eban pointed out. “There were enough supplies there to equip an army much larger a force that could be rapidly expanded.”
The documents consisted of photostatic copies in the original Arabic, plus English translations. Originating with the Egyptian “headquarters of the Military Area of Palestine,” marked “Operational,” the documents bore the inscription “Top Secret,” Copies of the orders were sent to an Egyptian infantry division in Gaza and to a brigade commander the orders were that the directives be passed along to all officers above certain ranks. However, officers were warned not to transmit the orders in writing “to a formation lower than battalion.”
An introduction to the orders stated: “Every commander is to prepare himself for the inevitable campaign with Israel for the purpose of fulfilling our exalted aim which is the annihilation of Israel and her destruction in the shortest possible time in the most brutal and cruel battles.” A closing clause in the orders warned “our aim is always: the destruction of Israel. Remember it, work for its fulfillment.”
At a crowded press conference in which he made the documents public, Mr. Eban declared that the interpretations furnished with the original Arabic documents are, in part, “expurgated.” The original language is much sharper than indicated in the English version.
“The mass of equipment, the quantities, distribution and intensity,” said Mr. Eban, “surprised even our selves. The equipment was the most modern in the hands of the great military powers. Its dimensions and categories were formidable.” The Israel Ambassador refused, however, to name any of the “great military powers Correspondents who tried to identify one of these powers as the Soviet Union were told by the Israeli that they were entitled “to make your own guesses.”
The documents, said Mr. Eban, show not only the “historic and moral responsibility” for what happened in the area, but point also to what would have happened if Israel had not destroyed the Egyptian bases.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
