The army, reflecting the government’s apparent determination to honor its peace treaty commitments and pull out of Sinai by April 25, moved vigorously over the weekend to prepare the last Israeli occupied sector for evacuation. Today, President Yitzhak Navon paid a farewell visit to the Yamit area in northern Sinai and to Ophira, the last Israeli outpost at the southern end of the peninsula.
He spoke to representatives of the farmers and merchants of Yamit and to the militants of the movement to halt the withdrawal from Sinai, mostly persons from outside the region who infiltrated the Yamit area in recent weeks.
The Yamit residents are demanding payment in full of the compensation promised by the government before they abandon their property and leave. The militants insisted that they would not leave voluntarily under any circumstances. Navon said he came to the region to listen, not to make any statements.
ARMY MOVES INTO YAMIT IN FORCE
Beginning last Thursday afternoon, the army moved into Yamit in force, breaking down the link chain fence around the town and reoccupying abandoned buildings from which troops had been forcibly ejected by militants a day earlier. Soldiers dismantled sandbagged positions and barbed wire barriers set up. by militants and recalcitrant residents for a promised last ditch resistance to evacuation. Forty civilians were arrested for interfering.
The army’s tough, no-nonsense approach was apparently ordered by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. He was reportedly angered when the area commander, Gen. Haim Erez, ordered his soldiers out of Yamit last week after they were cursed and pelted by militants and settlers. The army’s retreat in face of civilian pressure was widely criticized in the Israeli press.
The army announced, meanwhile, that the entire Sinai must be cleared of civilians by April I. March 31 is the final day for evacuation. No trouble is expected at Ophira where few militants penetrated and most of the local civilians have already left, reluctontly but peacefully. Yesterday the Israeli flag was hauled down at Ophira for the last time.
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