EGYPT'S ANGER SIR,—In your leading article entitled 'Egypt's Anger,' you
seem to lay all the blame for the present tension on the borders between Israel and the Arab countries on Egypt, who, in your opinion, has reserved herself the right to treat the armistice of 1949 as a one-sided agree- ment that Egypt need keep only when she feels like keeping it.
I would have liked you to mention in sup- port of this contention one act of aggression committed by the Egyptians, similar to those planned, organised and executed by the Israeli military forces in Quibya, Likya, Dair Yassin, Azzoun or Gaza.
The Egyptian forces have always shown self-restraint in the face of continued provoca- tion by the Israelis. The minor incidents that are reported every now and then, if they arc not pure inventiotfs put forward by the Israelis as counter-accusations to Egypt's com- plaints, are mere individual infiltrations across a demarcation line which is unnatural, as was certified by many unbiased witnesses.
You seem also to deduce sinister conclu- sions from the statement that Israel's policy is designed 'with the hope that peace will be forced on the Arab States.'
In fact, Israel's, endeavours are not for peace but for perpetrating the present wrongs inflicted upon the Arabs, and that is exactly what Israel calls peace, and what the Arabs refuse. Hitler also, after subduing half the Continent, wanted peace, but he was playing with words just as Israel is doing now.
If Israel were sincere in her clamour, she should have at least attempted to create a propitious atmosphere by respecting and implementing the United Nations' resolutions which she has hitherto flouted and ignored.
The real intentions of Israel are crystal clear. She knows that she cannot realise her unbounded ambitions unless the Arab countries are kept weak and disunited. Hence her clamour against the rearming of the Arab States. She knows also that time is against her and therefore continues her unceasing provoca- tion in order to create a situation from which she may benefit before it is too late.--Yours Egyptian Embassy, 75 South Audley Street, London, W.1
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