Notes
EGYPT'S OUTRAGED INNOCENCE On the face of it the responsibility for the ugly Gaza clash appears to lie with Israel. No matter how great the provoca- tion, the Israelis will find it hard to explain how their crafty ambuscade was effected so far on Ale Egyptian side of the border. Nevertheless, the ultimate guilt is largely Egypt's. The Egyptians' pathological hatred of Israel has led them to a long series of offensive (in both senses of the word) actions against their neighbour; and it will be surprising if investigation does not reveal some measure of direct Egyptian responsibility for this week's incident. It may well have arisen out of their anger at the loss of 'face' from the Turkey-lraq pact: the gang- leader who finds his followers deserting to a rival gang is always inclined to take it out of the nearest small boy. In this case the boy seems to have been able to give much better than he got; and Egypt's 'face' has fallen still further. The tone of .outraged innocence that Egypt has adopted would carry more conviction if she had paid even nominal attention to the requests of the Israel Government for peace talks. Egypt is by her own will at war with, Israel; and to protest that one of the battles in the war has gone against her through Israeli 'cheat- ing' is naive. Colonel Nasser appears to have decided that one way to keep both Egyptian and Arab opinion sweet is to trade upon anti-Israel sentiment in the Middle East. He will find that, once aroused, chauvinism is hard to control.
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