THE ASWAN SOLUTION

If Egypt and Israel really establish peace, it'll make a certain breed of futuristic thrillers extinct. Like this one, which imagines that the Israeli military, convinced that the Arabs will soon have nuclear war-power, will decide to capture the Aswan Dam and threaten to drown the entire population of Egypt. unless nuclear nonproliferation is absolutely guaranteed. What's more, the Israelis also plant a nuclear device inside the dam and furthermore intend to blow up a second warhead in the Negev Desert just so that Egypt and the world will know Israel truly has the bomb. Crucial to this scheme is the Israeli theft of the new American improved electronic jamming equipment (to neutralize the Arab SAM and air-to-air missiles), which is accomplished by seducing and bamboozling an American-Jewish scientist. The whole outlandish plan goes to the dogs, however, when Syria invades Israel in retaliation for having paralyzed Egypt. And then the dam really has to be blown--so it's Cairo, goodbye! Vivid but silly--and definitely not for those who prefer to see their lsraelis in a heroic light.