The ingenuity and dispatch with which they intercept the Arab plans make for eager reading.Ī new English novelist, RICHARD JONES, makes his bow with THE THREE SUITORS (Atlantic-Little, Brown, $6.00), a novel in which family secrets and the selfish friction between old and young are delightfully disclosed. Bitar, and their sources, known only by number, form one team, under the remote control of Brigadier General Jakov Baratz, director of military intelligence at Tel Aviv. Selim, his accomplice, the inscrutable Dr. He daily risks his life filing coded radio reports to Tel Aviv, and has been unapprehended for so long that the wife and daughter he left behind in Jerusalem have less claim on him than Emilie, his half-French, half-Syrian secretary, who gives him his interludes of happiness. But appearances are deceptive, for in fact his real name is Adom Ronen, and he is a Jewish agent. An inventive man with a quick sense of humor and a quicker temper, Selim runs an import-export business in Damascus, where he is regarded as a bold trader and faithful Muslim he lives with his mistress in discreet luxury, is trusted by the government, and occasionally entertains friends from the Party and diplomats from Moscow, Prague, or Sofia who value his backstairs knowledge of Arab politics. On the one side is Selim Fathalla, whose Arabic name signifies Gift of God. The spies in this story are what give it excitement and plausibility, and their operations are fascinating to follow. Such insecurity breeds apprehension, especially among the Israelis, who must depend on secret agents for the ultimate warning of where and when the Russians will erect missile sites for the Arab League. Opposed to this Arab “unity” was an Israel in which the day of the trumpets had passed: unemployment was rising, young men were leaving, the shipping was in trouble, and bank failures were impending. The left-wing socialists in Syria were causing the Kuwaitis and the Saudis to wonder about the future of their wealth Egypt was embroiled in the Yemen and deep in debt to Russia King Hussein’s life was in danger, and Jordan’s willingness to pressure Israel was in doubt. It was a time of imbalance throughout the Middle East. He has chosen for his skillfully plotted story the period of sabotage and raiding which led up to the Six-Day War of 1967. West knows his way about in the Levant: he knows the fanaticism and greed which ferment in Arab states like Lebanon and Syria, and the desperation and discipline which keep Israel on the alert, and while he plainly favors the Israeli, he can credit aspiration as well as revenge to the sons of the Prophet.
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