TOWARD OPEN WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Fight and fear not; the gates of Paradise are under the shade of the swords.

--Mohammed

THAT deadly shade spread farther across the hostile Middle East last week. Israel, concerned about the Arabs' increasing confidence and belligerency in recent weeks, abandoned any pretense of attacking only in reprisal and launched a limited offensive against its Arab foes. Egypt's official spokesman said: "We consider ourselves at war," and as much as admitted the reserves were being partially mobilized. The week also brought intensified artillery duels along the Syrian and Egyptian frontiers, spectacular aerial dogfights, and more commando raids by both sides, including Arab demolition of a power line pylon which cut off electricity for the town of Eilot.

"Since June 1967," U.N. Secretary-General U Thant reported to the Security Council, "the level of violence has never been higher," and "open warfare had been resumed." He admitted the 1967 cease-fire had "ceased to be respected" in the Suez Canal sector and hinted that he might be forced to order the withdrawal of the 92 U.N. military observers posted along the canal. "They cannot be expected," he said, "to serve as what amounts to defenseless targets in a shooting gallery."

To at least one of the 92, that idea was welcome. "I would not object to the danger," a U.N. observer from Scandinavia said in Cairo, "if I thought I was accomplishing something. But nobody listens any more. You request a ceasefire, and they smile and keep firing." That lack of accomplishment was painfully apparent. In what amounted to Egypt's most successful cross-Suez attack since the end of the 1967 war, "special commando forces" penetrated Israeli positions near Port Tewfik, severely damaging two tanks, killing five Israelis, wounding another three and taking one prisoner. (Egypt, in a characteristic exaggeration, claimed 40 Israelis were killed or wounded.) No Egyptian losses were mentioned by either side.

War in the Air. The heaviest air action took place high over the Golan Heights, where a hunting pack of Israeli Mirage 111-Cs collided with a covey of Syrian MIG-21s. It was the biggest air victory since the 1967 war. Israel claimed seven Syrian jets were knocked down, while Syria admitted losing three MIGs but said four Israeli Mirages were bagged. There were other air battles as well; one a brief fracas near the southern tip of Sinai in which, according to Israel, two Egyptian MIG-21s were downed. The rain of Arab aircraft, in fact, stirred a fresh upsurge of cockiness in Israel, and a favorite 1967 joke made the rounds once more. "It's easy to be an Arab pilot. All he has to learn is how to get up into the air; our pilots get him down again."

Whatever happens in the air, Egypt clearly has no intention of letting its planes be wiped out instantly on the ground as they were at the outset of the 1967 war. A TIME correspondent, driving from Cairo to Alexandria along the delta highway, spotted a host of mottled-green MIGs using a huge half-completed military airfield near Tanta. At four other places along the four-lane highway, the center strip had been asphalted over, creating a usable impromptu airstrip, and camouflaged hangars scattered along the road seemed to be obvious shelters for dispersing the Egyptian jets.

Meeting in Moscow. An agreement reached last week between two major factions of the fedayeen movement provided further evidence of Arab determination. Leaders of Al-Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) met in Amman for three days of almost nonstop meetings. They were concerned about a Cabinet reshuffle in Jordan that put anti-commando men into key positions and embarrassed by an unseemly squabble over credit for a successful raid three weeks ago. Other commando chieftains also joined the talks, and the upshot was a pledge of increased coordination. Just how long the agreement will last remains to be seen: the same groups have come together in the past, only to dissolve once the immediate threat has ended. Israelis welcomed the agreement between the Arab Commandos. "Now," said one threateningly, "the Fedayeen have one address instead of many."

A day after the pact was announced, Al-Fatah Leader Yasser Arafat received a packet rigged to explode when opened. It was hardly a brotherly act, and Fatah was quick to blame Israeli agents. There was some suspicion, however, that rival Arab commandos might have been the guilty senders.

In Moscow, the U.S. and the Soviet Union prepared for another round of talks aimed at reaching a solution to Middle East tensions. Joseph J. Sisco, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and leader of the U.S. delegation to Moscow, called the increase in hostilities a "very serious matter." There were signs that the Soviets were equally disturbed by the stepped-up activity in the area.

Prospects for an early package agreement between the Big Two, however, remained slim. The U.S. is said to be ready to agree to Egypt's demand that Israel should withdraw from the Sinai and Sharm el Sheikh. Washington also favors the return of the West Bank to Jordan, together with recognition of Jordan's rights in Jerusalem. But the Soviets and the Egyptians still insist that Israel quit all the lands conquered in 1967. Both Washington and Moscow, as a result of discussions, now agree that the frontier areas should be demilitarized and controlled by U.N. forces--a proposition that the Israelis, on the basis of past experience, bitterly oppose. As long as peace hopes remain dim, the prospect of more expansive military action remains--and in Israel at week's end there was talk of a brisk Israeli reply soon to Egypt's Suez raid.

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