October 9 1973
It is war again in the Middle East. Tensions between Israel and the Arabs have reached breaking point, and amidst the welter of claims and counter-claims the state of Israel is clearly engaged in a fight for survival in the face of an aggressive Arab build-up of forces.
The world will be tempted to ask if this is the final assault to force Israel to withdraw from what the Arabs believe is their territory. And is it to be achieved by yet another military showdown?
If so, there can be little hope for the Israelis, unless the rest of the Arab world refuses to join in with the Egyptians and Syrians.
The agonising search for permanent peace in the Middle East now has to begin again; and in the face of the present confrontation, hopes are fragile.
…This time, there can be no argument that the Arabs have started a war and early successes have given them confidence that they can contain the Israeli forces and recover what was taken from them, by force of arms.
As it stands at the moment, the elements in this new situation are highly inflammable and what is not needed is anything that will further fuel the animosities which have produced the present conflict, or help to extend the war beyond its present boundaries.
The Arabs have not forgotten the ignominy of the Six-Day War in 1967. They want Israeli-occupied territory back. Israel will be similarly determined that territory then gained and occupied will not be ceded without a bitter fight.
Why the Egyptians and Syrian leaders have chosen this moment to meet the Israelis head-on is difficult to determine because there have been widely-expressed opinions that policies of moderation are the only way to solve Middle East problems. Only a few weeks ago, Israel’s Ambassador in London declared that the prospect of another war in the Middle East had receded. But war it is – and this means death and destruction for both sides.
The price for a Jewish state was, in a sense, paid for by the inhabitants of Palestine. The cause of their freedom has been lost in the mutual antagonism between Jew and Arab powers. The Palestinian Arabs will certainly not gain from this conflict which has nothing to do with their problem.
The Irish News editorial on the Yom Kippur War which had broken out in the Middle East days earlier.
More School Strikes in Protest at Boys’ Internment
More school strikes are planned as part of the continuing campaign to end the detention in Long Kesh of three Belfast schoolboys.
While internment was widely condemned by all strains of nationalism, there was particular revulsion at the internment of children, which led to the strikes.
