Where will Egyptian President Anwar Sadat anchor his yacht when he arrives in El Arish May 26? This is the problem the Israeli-Egyptian delegations were wrestling with today as they continued discussions on Israel’s turning over of the northern Sinai town to the Egyptians.
The problem is that the shore at El Arish is shallow and maritime experts will have to find a deep spot to anchor the presidential yacht. Israeli Premier Menachem Begin will be taken by an amphibious vehicle to the yacht to welcome Sadat.
Meanwhile, other teams were marking the new lines that will divide Israeli-held territory from El Arish and Israeli engineers were training Egyptian technicians to handle the water pumps and other utilities in the town. While the Egyptians have already agreed to allow Israelis to continue operating a laundry in the area to be taken over by Egypt, they have not yet agreed whether to allow residents of El Arish to continue working in Israel.
In A-Tour, the Egyptian delegates to the committee on the Sinai oil fields have not yet approved any further Israeli developments of the oil fields although the Israelis plan to dig another well before the oil fields are turned over to Egypt in seven months. The Egyptians were described as “not being too anxious to cooperate.” However, the committee is expected to meet again in about two weeks.
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