Twin Cities Pact Due Later This Year

The signing of a twin-cities pact between Rio de Janeiro and Tel Aviv was postponed for “technical difficulties” and is sure to take place later this year, Brazilian officials said. Mayor Shlomo Lehat of Tel Aviv, who arrived here for the ceremonials last week, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he was given that assurance by Mayor Marcos Tamoio of Rio.

Lehat and his wife were en route to Rio from Israel when the signing was suddenly cancelled by the local municipality without reason. Some sources said the federal authorities intervened under Arab pressure to call off the symbolic binding of Israel’s largest city with the largest city of Brazil. But twice in the past two weeks a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia strongly denied that there was any interference. Mayor Lehat told the JTA that he accepted Mayor Tamoio’s explanation. (By David Markus)