Egypt, Israel Fail to Settle Differences over Sinai Border but Hope to Resolve Them by April 25

Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali ended his three-day visit to Israel today without having settled the differences between Israel and Egypt over the Sinai border. The timing and itinerary of President Hosni Mubarak’s projected visit to Israel also remained undecided.

Nevertheless, both countries are determined to resolve their differences through amicable negotiations by the time Israel completes its withdrawal from Sinai on April 25. That was the message conveyed by Hassan Ali and Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon at a joint press conference before the Egyptian delegation left for Cairo at noon today. Hassan Ali and Sharon will meet again within 2-3 weeks in Cairo for another session of the Israel-Egyptian Joint High Commission on normalization of relations.

In the interim, the two governments will consider the compromise proposals put forward by each side during Hassan Ali’s meetings with top Israeli officials here this week. Sharon and the Egyptian visitor stressed that the border problems were “technical.”

The most serious dispute concerns the location of the boundary line in the Taba region near Eilot. It involves a coastal strip of less than one kilometer on which an Israeli-built resort hotel is located.

Sources on both sides predicted that some form of functional arrangement would be worked out whereby the Israelis would be able to continue to operate the hotel while Egypt exercised its soverignty over the area. The other disputed border points involve even less territory, in some cases only a few yards.

MUBARAK’S VISIT TO BE DECIDED IN FUTURE TALKS

Hassan Ali had little to say about Mubarak’s plans to visit Israel. The Egyptian President has refused to go to Jerusalem and the Israeli government has said in that case he would not be welcome. The Egyptian Foreign Minister said he had conveyed to Premier Menachem Begin an oral message from Mubarak reiterating his desire to visit Israel and that Begin, for his part, had “re-extended” the invitation. Hassan Ali said the timing of the visit and the issue of whether Mubarak would include Jerusalem on his itinerary would be decided in future discussions.

The Egyptian official said it was inconceivable that these disputes could lead to “a standstill” after both countries, through courage and perseverance, had overcome many much more serious problems. Sharon agreed that there was no cause for anxiety over the future state of relations between Israel and Egypt.