Defense Minister Moshe Arens accused Egypt of “blatantly” violating its peace agreement with Israel, Had Israel known in advance how the Egyptians would behave it might never have signed the treaty, Arens said at the dedication yesterday of the new Nevatim Air Force base in the Negev.
The Defense Minister, who as a Knesset member had opposed the 1979 Israel-Egyptian peace treaty and the Camp David accords which preceded it, angrily reproached Cairo for not returning its Ambassador, Saad Mortada, to Tel Aviv since he was called home for “consultations” after the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps massacre more than a year ago.
“Had we been told (during the treaty negotiations) that this was how the Egyptian government planned to act in cases of difference of opinion between the two states, it is doubtful we would have gone that far in making concessions for the peace agreements,” Arens said. He enumerated the “concessions” as giving up the Yamit area settlements, the oil rich areas in Sinai, the air bases Israel built there and an important security area.
“In return, Egypt undertook to maintain normal relations with us, including the exchange of Ambassadors,” Arens said. “Some try to explain that Egypt took this step (recalling Mortada) as an expression of dissatisfaction with our policy. But there is no escaping the conclusion that Egypt is violating the agreement it signed and is violating it blatantly.”
The 13,000 acre Nevatim Air Base is one of three built or being built in the Negev to replace the bases Israel gave up in Sinai. It is the only one built entirely by Israel. The other two were financed by the U.S.
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