MIDDLE EAST: MOUNTING VIOLENCE

THE Six-Day War has not ended," Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser said last week. "The Two, Three-or even Four-Year War is still continuing. We are at war with Israel." With those belligerent words, spoken in a week that saw ground and air action along the Suez Canal reach new intensity, Nasser effectively scrapped the U.N. Security Council cease-fire of 1967. Had the point of all-out war been reached? Not quite. Despite all the shooting--and the shouting--casualties were minimal in comparison with those suffered during the June 1967 hostilities. But the prospects for peace remained dim. All the efforts of the peacemakers, including the U.N. and the Big Four (the United States, the U.S.S.R., Britain and France), produced little progress. Neither Israel nor Egypt, the major antagonists, displayed any interest in compromise. On the contrary, both were intent on expanding the scale of their attacks. The pattern was clear: strike and counterstrike, with each major blow more vicious than the last.

Wrecking Process. The latest round began near the southern entrance to the Suez Canal at a fortified Egyptian rock named Green Island. Within the fort's 25-ft.-high stone walls were radar-controlled antiaircraft batteries, mortars and machine guns manned by 70-odd Egyptian troops; at its tip was a radar tower. It had long been a thorn to the Israelis, and late one night 40 or more Israeli naval commandos set off on the two-mile trip to the island. Silently, they scaled the walls, killed the sentries and then, after a brief but vicious firefight that cost at least six Israeli dead, blew up all the artillery and fire-control installations within the fortress. Shortly after they withdrew, Egyptians on the far shore opened a two-hour artillery barrage on the island, evidently acting in the belief that the Israelis meant to hold the fortress for some time to come--and effectively completed the wrecking process.

By dawn, heavy artillery was roaring all along the Suez, and early that afternoon Israeli fighter-bombers thundered across the canal to attack antiaircraft batteries and several SAM missile sites. For three hours, the Israeli planes had the skies to themselves. Then, at dusk, Egyptian MIGs and Sukh017 fighter-bombers raked Israeli military installations along the canal and swooped some 60 miles into Israeli-held Sinai, in their deepest penetration since 1967. In the dogfights that developed, Israel claimed five Egyptian jets downed--and, for the first time since 1967, admitted losing a plane to enemy air action (Cairo's ever-optimistic government spokesmen enthusiastically claimed that 19 Israeli jets had been knocked down).

Four days later, another air battle erupted over the Suez, and the day's claimed casualties were still heavier. The action began when Israeli craft took to the air to hit at Egyptian artillery. At first, they were unopposed, but Egypt later scrambled half a dozen MIGs. Dogfights flared along the length of the canal. That afternoon, Egypt hit back on a larger scale. More than 40 Egyptian aircraft went after Israeli installations. The Israelis responded with fighters and Hawk antiaircraft missiles, and the battle was on. Late in the day, the opposing propagandists entered the fray. According to Egypt, six Israeli planes were downed and one Egyptian plane was lost. The Israelis, citing photographic proof, said that seven Egyptian jets were downed and two more damaged, and admitted no losses. Over the next two days, when Israeli jets again lashed at Egyptian positions along the canal, Egyptian aircraft made only one attempt to intercept them.

In Cairo, as Egyptians last week celebrated the 17th anniversary of the overthrow of King Farouk and the establishment of the republic, Nasser told the congress of the ruling Arab Socialist Union: "We now begin the stage of liberation. We shall fight for the restoration of our land, not only Egyptian lands but all Arab lands." Calling for a war of attrition, he warned that "we are now engaged in a long battle to drain the enemy's strength." In an attempt to create more Arab cooperation against Israel, he called for a new Arab summit conference, noting that "conditions now are very different from what they were when we last met in Khartoum in August 1967." Nasser paid specific tribute to one of those-"changed conditions": he hailed the Palestinian resistance movement as "an almost unbelievable phenomenon" and pledged that "we will continue to give all we can to the commandos."

Booby-Trapped Melons. The commandos were busy last week behind Israeli lines. In Hebron, a grenade was tossed into a truckload of sightseers. A bomb hidden in a paint can went off in Tel Aviv. A synagogue was blown up in Kfar Saba. In a Haifa market, a 17-year-old youth tugged at an odd-looking object embedded in a watermelon and triggered an explosion; police found several more booby-trapped melons near by. In all, terrorist action killed one and wounded 13. Against this background of violence, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir called for adherence to the cease-fire resolution, adding grimly that "I must point out to Egypt, Jordan and Syria that we do not speak out of weakness."

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