Israel Pushes On
The world is so reluctant to face the prospect of a new flare-up in Palestine that the Israeli Foreign Minister has an eager audience for the soft words which he has been handing out in excuse for Israel's excursion to Akaba. There is no threat, apparently, to Akaba, or to Transjordan or Egypt, or to the current negotiations at Rhodes, or to peace or to justice. All that Israel wants is a little private beach on the Red Sea, and nobody need be worried about the way in which, or the time at which, she has set about securing it. This, of course, is complete nonsense. What Israel is after is control of the whole of Palestine—so much for the Balfour Declara- tion's National Home in Palestine—and she has made each truce organised by the United Nations the opportunity for completing a new stage towards her grand design. It was thus that she secured Galilee (which was allotted to the Arabs under partition), and now it is the turn of the Negev. There has been as yet no neutral con- firmation of the fact that the Jewish troops which have occupied Urn .Rashrash entered Egyptian or Transjordan territory while moving up, though it is more than likely that they did so, but the fact that they have been moved at all is a clear breach of the terms of the armistice agreement signed with Egypt three weeks ago. No doubt an attack on Akaba is not contemplated at the moment, though if there were no British troops in the port it might be another story. Perhaps even more significant than the Akaba move is the report that Jewish troops have moved into Ain Geddi, a point half- way along the west coast of the Dead Sea. If Israel can establish control on the Gulf of Akaba, in the Dead Sea and on the Lake of Galilee, she has obviously gone a long way towards cutting off Arab- occupied Palestine from Transjordan. This timeLhonoured policy of the fait accompli is in full progress. Once more the United Nations will have to choose between accepting or evading the challenge.
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