Zone Defense

It was not quite a prelude to World War III, but the scene at the frontier etween the two nations was nonetheless a disquieting reprise of old cold war showdowns. Ardent nationalists demonstrated, inflammatory editorials issued calls to arms, tanks moved into position, and ships at sea began "strategic maneuvers." Berlin? Czechoslovakia? In fact, the moves and countermoves involved the area around Trieste, on the Yugoslav-Italian border, which until now has been one of the most successfully accommodated (though never finally resolved) East-West disputes.

Once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Trieste was annexed by Italy after World War I; after World War II it became the object of a prolonged tug of war between Italy and Yugoslavia, whose partisans had participated in the Allied capture of the region. In 1954, however, a practical accommodation was reached. Italy was granted provisional control over the northern section of the 287-sq.-mi. territory. Called Zone A, it included the city of Trieste (pop. 270,000), which is predominantly Italian but has a large Slovene minority. The rest of the area, Zone B, was kept provisionally under Yugoslav control.

The largely unpoliced frontier between the zones eventually became one of the most open in Europe. Hundreds of Italian motorists daily crossed the line to buy Yugoslav meat and cheap gasoline in Zone B. The highway connecting the two zones became known as "washing-machine road"-a reference to the Western-made appliances that Yugoslav tourists brought home with them from shopping trips to Zone A.

The problem is that the demarcation line is still not, technically speaking, a border. The current dispute began when signs on the Yugoslav side of the line were changed last January in such a way as to imply that Zone B was an integral part of the Yugoslav Republic of Slovenia. Italians immediately protested that Yugoslavia was trying to establish permanent sovereignty over Zone B.

Italian Premier Mario Rumor sent a note of protest to Belgrade, describing Zone B as "Italian territory." Marshal Tito's government responded by claiming that Zone B (and Zone A, too, if Rome really wanted to pursue the matter) was "Yugoslav territory." Yugoslav armor and troops went on maneuvers, and protests erupted in a number of Croat and Slovene border towns. More than 10,000 people crowded Tito Square in the Zone B town of Koper, some carrying signs reading, WHAT IS OURS WE DON'T GIVE UP.

Factory groups and partisan organizations sent telegrams to Belgrade vowing to sacrifice their lives in defense of "every inch of territory." Long lines of cars began to snake backward at the border crossings, as Yugoslav guards suddenly began punctilious examinations of every vehicle entering or leaving Zone B. After Italian and U.S. forces joined in NATO naval exercises off the Adriatic coast, Belgrade mustered its own armada in a countershow of force. Last week Tito lambasted both Italy and the U.S. for endangering the security of the area with their maneuvers.*

Murky Quarrels. Why has this idyllically peaceful frontier suddenly become a hot diplomatic issue? The Yugoslavs claim that Italy is asserting sovereignty over Zone B under pressure from "neoFascist irredentism." The Italians, who may want to retain their claim simply to trade it off for valuable future concessions (like Adriatic fishing rights), argue that Belgrade's belligerence stems from Yugoslavia's internal problems. They note that Tito's government is also enmeshed in murky quarrels with Bulgaria over Macedonia and with Austria about treatment of Slovenes living in that country.

The Trieste area is bound to prosper when the Suez Canal is reopened. Goods from Japan and oil from the Middle East will flow through Trieste into prosperous Central Europe. Thus, both Italy and Yugoslavia have a viable interest in the area. So, of course, do the Triestini, who will lose more than their hopes for a boom if further diplomatic squabbling clouds the area's future: most of the wine drunk in Zone A is produced in Zone B.

*On a visit to Yugoslavia last week, Senator Edward Kennedy got into the act by objecting to the fact that U.S. ships were maneuvering with the Italian navy during the crisis. He also rejected the official U.S. explanation that the exercises were not provocative because they had been planned weeks in advance. The excuse, said Kennedy, was "totally inadequate."

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