ABSTRACT
The Soviet deliveries of tanks and fighter planes to Egypt were predictable and are normal. They in no way prove that Moscow's leaders are contemplating an imminent renewal of hostilities. This lack of symmetry partly explains the course of events; it also contains lessons for the future. Whether in the short or the long term, the only true victory for Israel would be peace. The shock effect of armoured divisions in the desert favours the army that is the more mobile, the more able to manoeuvre quickly, whose soldiers are better trained and whose commanders are, at every level, better at taking the initiative. Since the Arab countries refused to recognize Israel's existence, the latter could neither trust the loyalty of the Arab minority nor agree to the massive reflux of the Palestinian victims of the 1948 crisis.
