Bombs and Blue-Outs

Guests checking into Cairo's Nile Hilton these days are greeted by a polite note warning: "Upon instructions from the government, there will be an airraid trial at any time." With characteristic efficiency, the Egyptians began their first drill with an all-clear signal. On the streets of the capital, increasing numbers of autos have their headlights painted blue to reduce their visibility from the air. Both the drills--which went off largely as planned--and the "blue-out" are signs of Egypt's growing concern over Israeli air raids.

In recent weeks, Israeli jets have repeatedly blasted military installations near Cairo--the closest strike coming just nine miles from the city. Egyptian opposition was patchy, though one Israeli jet was downed by antiaircraft fire. Israel enjoys mastery of the air, which it aims to use to make life miserable for Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser. Late in the week, Israeli commandos struck within 36 miles of Cairo--the closest that Israeli ground forces have ever operated to the Egyptian capital.

Libyan Wealth. The Israelis make no secret of their desire to get rid of Nasser. As long as he is President of Egypt, Israel's Premier Golda Meir said in Jerusalem, "I cannot say when there will be peace." A high-ranking Cabinet minister added: "Nasser has imprisoned himself in a position where he cannot make peace and he cannot make war. He can only maintain the status quo, and the status quo will only lead eventually to war. He must be weakened, but it would be better if he went altogether."

Nonetheless, the chances that Israel will succeed in undermining Nasser look slim. Last autumn, Nasser banished Ali Sabry, his only evident rival, from the government hierarchy. Diplomats feel that Nasser is now definitely in command. Indeed, he had encouraging news from neighboring Libya, where Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, leader of the coup that ousted King Idris last fall, formally installed himself as Prime Minister. Gaddafi is firmly in Nasser's camp. Libya's barely tapped oil wealth can be a real asset to Nasser.

To the north, Lebanon continued to encounter trouble in its attempts to keep Arab commando organizations in check. Villagers near Israel's borders are alarmed that guerrilla raids will bring savage reprisals. In Hasbaya, demonstrators stormed the office of the Syrian Al-Saiga commando group. In nearby Nabatiya, where Al-Saiga also had an office--and therefore a potential target for the Israelis--dangerously close to a school, residents protested to the government. Beirut ordered the commandos to close their offices in both towns and to move their bases away from populated areas.

It was against that discouraging backdrop of bombing raids and commando attacks that the United Nations ambassadors of the U.S., Britain, France and the Soviet Union held their meeting in Manhattan on the Mideast problem. The Big Four got nowhere, nor are they likely to for some time to come. With peace efforts stymied, arms continued to flow into the troubled area. There were unconfirmed reports that the French, who only two weeks ago arranged to deliver 50 Mirage jets to Libya, were negotiating the sale of 50 more to Iraq; Paris heatedly denied the stories. In Brussels, on the other hand, the Belgian government confirmed reports that a shipment of surplus American and French war materiel left the port of Zeebrugge last week aboard the Israeli freighter Tamar.

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