EGYPT HAS FORTIFIED ITS SINAI-CANAL AREA
WASHINGTON - American intelligence sources have reported that the Egyptian army has constructed more than 90 fortified strong points in the Egyptian-held strip of Sinai east of the Suez Canal. The strcmg points are located along a north-south axis but no attempt has been made yet to link them up, the sources said.
The sources also said that
C9HIN IS
I
Of
THEODORE "TED" COHEN who will be honored this Sunday night Sept. 15^ as 1974 Man of the Year at a dinner tendered by State of Israel Bond organization at Pacific Ballroom, Hotel Vancouver. Israel Ambassador to Scandinavia Moshe Leshem is keynote speaker. Last .minute reservations as long as limited space permits will be taken at 266-7210 or 263-5912.
Israel has erected various fortifications in its zone facing the United Nations buffer zone, but they are not as elaborate as the Egyptian system of bunkers and trenches.
According to U.S. sources, Israel's main defense in Sinai now consists of three armored and two mechanized infantry brigades deployed along two key passes through a chain of hills about 20 miles from the Suez Canal. These brigades would be expected to hold an Egyptian attack until re-enforcements arrived, the sources said.
The sources claimed that major Egyptian forces comprising about seven divisions and four brigades of infantry and armor are deployed just west of the canal.
The Egyptians were said to have about 20 Russian-built pon-
toon bridges ready to span the waterway, capable of moving the major elements of five divisions across the canal within six hours after opening an attack.
Meanwhile, in a recent speech to student representatives in Alexandria, Eg^tian President Anwar Sadat said Egypt would continue its good relations with the Soviet Union "but our eagerness to consolidate relations with the Big Powers does not mean that we should become aligned with any one of them."
Sadat's remarks, reported in the semi-official Cairo newspaper, Al Ahram, indicated a new emphasis on Egyptian independence from both superpowers.
He told the students that new war planes are on their way to Egypt, bought by "some friendly Arab states" to replace Eygpt's Yom Kippur War losses. He also
said that Egypt was saved from near bankruptcy on the eve of the Oct. war by $500 milli(Hi received from "our Arab brothers."
According to a report of Sadat's speech carried by the official Middle East News Agency, the President told the students, "The change in the attitude of the United States is our own doing through what we achieved in October and not just a casual change in the attitude of the President of the United States or its Secretary of State;"
AN ISRAELI PARATROOPER who landed in the Sea of Galilee during recent call-np test« and exercises is winched out of the water by a rescuing helicopter. JCNS
ISRAEL BRIEFS
NEW YEAR EDITION
Friday, September 13, 1974
PLO prepares name for its new state
LONDON—The Palestine Liberation Organization intends to call its new State-if and when it is established-the "Democratic State of Palestine." Its forces would be known as the "Palestine Defence Army."
This was revealed to me recently by Said Hammami, the representative in London of the PLO, which is the umbrella organization for most Arab terrorist groups and is led by Yasir Arafat, who is also head of the largest terrorist group, El Fatah. ^ Hammami is known to be a close associate of Arafat and to reflect his views.
Hammami implied that talks would shortly be held with the United States government and possibly with Dr. It^nry Kissinger, the Secretary^-of State. The PLO would put fM<w^rd a plan for a new State tc^be formed in
By Special Correspondent
territories evacuated by the Is-raelis-the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"We want a State which will be like any other State in the United Nations-with its own army, navy and air force."
Such a new state, he said, would end the war with Israel ^'unless Israel goes to war with Us." But it would not end the conflict with the Israelis. The Palestinians would strive by peaceful means to "persuade" the Israelis to establish one unitary State.
This open insistence on a Palestinian army was at variance with Hammami's attitude during a press interview earlier this year when he argued that the Palestinians were "too poor" to have funds for such expensive items as arms.
1 questioned Hammami closely on the charter of the PLO, which
Ford reverses stand on O.S. embassy move
WASHINGTON—President Gerald Ford has backed away from his 1972 proposal- that the United States move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem where 17 other nations now locate their ambassadors. At his first news conference since taking office, the President responded to a question about his proposal of two years ago by saying, "Under current circumstances and the importance of getting a just and lasting peace in the Middle-East, that particular proposal ought to stand aside."
states that only those Israelis who lived in Palestine before the "Zionist invasion" (which is assumed to be 1917) could remain. The others would have to leave.
He argued that this part of the charter "has been frozen" and had been superseded by other decisions taken by the PLO "which meant a recognition of the Israeli people" and there was no question of asking them to leave. Constant Israeli references to the charter he ascribed to "Israel propaganda."
He refused to accept the validity of the argument that the fears about the real intentirais of the PLO could hardly be lessened if the organization did not formally withdraw the offensive part of its charter. JCNS.
BONN REJECTS
TEL AVIV — Bonn govern-' ment has turned down, for "political reasons," an El Al plan to operate a flight from West Germany directly to Jerusalem aiiport at Atarot (Kalandia).
NEW INTELLIGENCE CHIEF
TEL AVIV—Mossad, Israel's top secret intelligence agency, got an unidentified new chief, replacing Maj. Gen. Zavi Zamir, whose identity was made public after six years as agency head.
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U.S. ARMS SUPPLY
JERUSALEM — Defense Minister Shimon Peres said Israel would continue to regard U.S. as its chief source of arms supplies despite France's decision to end seven-year-old embargo on arms shipments to Israel and
Arab countries.
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FAVORS GUARANTEES
JERUSALEM — Former West German Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder heading a parliamentary delegatimi, said here he favored international guarantees to protect Israel's security and facilitate a Middle East peace settlement.
USSR ARRESTS RUBIN FOR 'PARASITISM'
NEW YORK —Vitaly Rubin, a Soviet expert in China and a leading Jewish activist, was arrested on charges of parasitism, according to the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry. The Conference said that Rubin has a heart condition and was ostensibly taken to a hospital by the police.
LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR UBC JUDAIC STUDIES
Greek governmenff abhors anti-Semitism
LONDON — A Greek Cabinet official assured a Jewish delegation that the Athens government abhored anti-Semitic articles ttiat have appeared in some sections of the Greek press recently in connection with the Cyprus crisis.
The delegation of Greek Jewish leaders, headed by Joseph Lov-inger, president of Central Board of Greek Jewish Communities, visited P. Lambrias, Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister, toexpresstheirgrowing concern over the articles.
They voiced fear that such prop-
aganda could disturb the brotherly relations that have long existed between the Christian and Jewish communities in Greece which had withstood the era of Nazi occupation when non-Jewish Greeks took great risks to protect Jews from the Gestapo.
Lambrias responded by declaring that the government considered anti-Semitic articles to be "anti-Greek" and "harmful to the Greek nation."
He stressed that Greek Jews enjoy equal rights with all other citizens and that anti-Jewish discrimination in Greece was "in-
conceivable."
The articles referred to apparently stemmed from Greek bitierness over the American role in the Cyprus crisis. The leftist daily "Athenaiki" referred to U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger as "the German Jew Kissinger" and said that Greece no longer wants to be the "sole means of survival for any more Israels."
The latter was a reference to the use of U.S. bases in Greece in the American military airlift to Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
Students and interested members of the Vancouver Jewish Community are reminded that there is still time to register for courses in Judaic studies at University of British Columbia.
Professor Larry Fine, recently arrived in Vancouver from Bran-deis University, will be giving three courses under aegis of the department of Religious studies.
Religious Studies 308 is an introduction to post-Biblical Judaism. The intention of this course is to introduce Judaism through a study of its most important religious ideas, practices and institutions.
Emphasis will be upon the histoid and meaning of Jewish religious thought. The course is divided into three periods: Talmudic, Medieval and Modern.
Religious Studies 308 is being offered to second, third and fourth year undergraduate students and all graduate students as well as to individuals wishing to audit.
It meets Tuesday, Wednesday
and Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (three credits).
Religious Studies 407 is topics in Talmudic Judaism. The goal of this course is to study in depth basic religious themes of Judaism as it formed in the period of the early rabbis. This course meets Thursday from 10:30 to 12:30 (1 1/2 credits).
Religious Studies 408 is topics in Medieval Judaism. This course will strive to examine in depth some of the most sigmficant kinds of religious expression of Medieval Judaism. It will be offered in the second semester, also for 1 1/2 credits.
Both Religious Studies 407 and Religious Studies 408 require prior background in Judaic Studies. People who are interested in these courses should consult with Prof. Fine.
Those who wish details may contact Prof. Fine through the department of Religious Studies at UBC.