THE Middle East may be problem No. 5 to you," Egyptian President Anwar Sadat recently told a visiting diplomat, "but it's crisis No. 1 to me." Last week Sadat was doing his best to make it crisis No. 1 for the rest of the world as well. Wearing a khaki uniform, he viewed sandbagged positions along the Suez Canal and delivered bellicose pep talks to the troops. "I have come to tell you," Sadat said, "that the time to fight has come, that there is no more hope. Our next meeting will be in Sinai."
Sadat's statements set off the Middle East's worst war jitters since a ceasefire began along the canal 16 months ago. Floodlights and neon signs were doused in Cairo, blue dimout paint was smeared onto auto headlights and plate-glass windows. Civil-defense equipment was pointedly inspected, including electronic amplifiers that would supposedly magnify groans from victims trapped under debris. At the same time, the top military commanders of a dozen Arab nations met in Cairo and, according to Egypt's hawkish Chief of Staff Major General Saad Shazly, "voiced full desire to participate in the battle against Israel."
The Israelis responded with scare headlines: EGYPT ASSEMBLES LARGEST
ASSAULT FORCE SINCE D-DAY,*and SYRIA LIKELY TO JOIN FRAY. The first nationwide test of air-raid sirens since the Six-Day War of 1967, added to the scare. Premier Golda Meir, addressing Labor Party leaders in Tel Aviv, warned: "We cannot permit ourselves to carry on with the attitude of business-as-usual with Sadat saying to his people not that he will win, but that he will take them into battle."
Five Failures. Despite such alarms, war did not appear imminent—at least not until after a United Nations debate on the Middle East, scheduled to open this week at Arab insistence. The Arabs were apparently trying to generate pressure, principally on the U.S., to end the stalemate that has existed since the cease-fire began. Dissatisfied with U.S. peace efforts, the Egyptians hope to sway opinion in the U.N. General Assembly, where there is a built-in anti-Israel majority. Ideally, the Egyptians would like to achieve a U.N. vote for economic sanctions against Israel, and an arms embargo that would embarrass the U.S., Israel's largest supplier.
If Sadat was trying in a none too subtle manner to put pressure on Washington, so was Mrs. Meir. Israel is anxious to obtain at least 50 more U.S.-built Phantom jets, particularly in view of continuing Soviet military aid to Egypt. The U.S., however, insists that Middle East arms are still in balance and refuses to provide additional planes. Last week Israel played up the news that eight to ten more Soviet TU-16 "Badger" bombers had arrived in Cairo and that they were capable of carrying air-to-ground Kennel missiles with a range of 50 miles. Washington maintained that in spite of these Badgers the Middle East arms balance had still not been upset. The Israelis thereupon complained that U.S. intelligence has erred on at least five prior occasions, including a failure to detect the initial Soviet missile movements into the Canal Zone when the ceasefire began last year.