Egypt wants France to use its good relations with a number of Arab countries either to bring them to the negotiating table with Israel or, at least, to abstain from criticizing the Camp David agreements and the current Israeli-Egyptian peace talks.
Egyptian Vice President Hosni Mubarak is due to arrive this week in Paris and will meet President Valery Giscard d’Estaing to ask him to undertake such a mission. Egyptian officials in Paris said Mubarak will deliver a personal plea to Giscard from President Anwar Sadat and ask him to “work for peace” by spreading the Camp David influence to other Arab states.
Egyptian officials add that Mubarak will also inform France that in spite of the probable conclusion of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, Sadat is determined to go ahead with his plans to set up an Egyptian arms industry with French help. Mubarak, these officials say, will tell the French that Egypt continues to count on France’s technical assistance to start its arms production at the earliest.
The conclusion of a peace treaty, these Egyptian officials state, definitely rules out new Soviet arms shipments and Egypt can still not count on U.S. supplies. The arms industry plans are therefore considered by the Egyptian government as more urgent than ever before, according to the officials.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
