Rambling along the Gaza strip last week on a Moslem holiday tour of army bases and refugee camps, Premier Gamal Abdel Nasser heard a radio bulletin: the U.S. had approved a French shipment to Israel of twelve Mystère jet fighters out of its NATO stocks. Egypt's soldier-strongman blew up: the French jets, added to a dozen Mystères and 24 Ouragan jets already shipped, would undo much of the advantage Egypt had gained by buying Soviet-bloc arms.*
By midnight Nasser knew by telephone from his Paris embassy that the Mystère report was correct. All...
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