Middle East: Hardening Line

Israel's leaders purposely have never been precise in defining how much they intend to keep of the Arab territory their army conquered in the 1967 war. Now, however, the Cabinet's position is rapidly hardening. Israel's new frontiers, says Premier Golda Meir, must provide "no natural advantage to our neighbors" (see box). In strategic translation, that means that Israel intends to retain part of Jordan's West Bank, at least a measure of Syria's Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and as yet unspecified portions of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Last week Deputy Premier Yigal Allon promised Israelis that "if our frontiers are made secure, they will eventually be recognized." Defense Minister Moshe Dayan added a carefully worded warning: "If the Arabs keep up their hostilities,' it is doubtful whether our forces can remain on the defensive."

Symbolic Mourning. Dayan's words only seemed to reinforce the Arabs' equal insistence—at least in public—that the Israelis must evacuate all occupied territory. In fresh artillery firing across the Suez Canal last week, Egyptian troops killed five Israeli soldiers and wounded another 19; Israelis trained their fire on the evacuated buildings of Port Said. On the eastern front, Jordanian and Israeli soldiers continued daily artillery battles across the Jordan River. Israeli casualties were one killed and two wounded.

Inside the occupied territories, Arab shopkeepers in the town of Nablus closed their stores in symbolic mourning of the 21st anniversary of Israel's founding.-But the fedayeen guerrillas have failed notably to stir the populace to more drastic forms of resistance. In the Gaza Strip, a series of eight grenades exploded in crowded marketplaces, injuring 36 Arabs—evidently terrorist punishment for collaboration with the Israelis.

Probably Impermanent. The failure of the fedayeen within the occupied territories has made more urgent than ever the commando drive for freedom to strike at Israel from Lebanon. Last month the Lebanese Cabinet resigned in the aftermath of riots in support of the guerrillas. Since then, the country's leaders have sought an agreement with the fedayeen that would preserve the peace with Israel. Last week the two sides reached an uneasy, fragile—and probably impermanent—understanding. Lebanon will release arrested rioters and drop charges against them in return for a fedayeen promise not to bring on Israeli retaliation, either by firing across the border or by launching large-scale raids from Lebanese territory. Lebanon has appealed also to its Moslem neighbors for a summit meeting of the Arab League, now a distinct possibility, since other Arab governments are as aware as the Lebanese of the growing political threat of the fedayeen.