Army to Begin Removal of Equipment from Sinai for Initial Withdrawal

The army will soon begin the removal of certain equipment and installations from Sinai in preparation for the first phase of its withdrawal from that territory following the signing of a peace treaty with Egypt. According to military sources, the withdrawal will be carried out in a way that will ensure Israel’s defensive strength and minimize delays.

The sources indicated that the army will retain its present strength in Sinai after it withdraws to the interim line between El Arish on the Mediterranean and Ras Mouhammed on the Red Sea. The new line will be held by mobile forces backed up by the two Sinai airfields and advance warning systems. But once the army withdraws completely from Sinai, the Negev will become its main training area, the sources said.

The military zone will extend from Beersheba southwards. But sections of the western Negev now used by the army–near Nitzana, Revivim and Kerem Abshalom–will be made available for civilian use, mainly agricultural development.

The central Negev town of Mitzpeh Rimon which has lost population and deteriorated in recent years, is expected to undergo a rapid revival as a civilian urban center serving the new military zone. New construction is planned there to house the families of soldiers and the large numbers of civilian workers to be employed building the new airfields and military infrastructure.

Army planners are also working out the redeployment of forces on the West Bank as called for in the Camp David framework. In this they must consider the strength of the combined Arab forces that may be arrayed against them on the eastern front which is said to number 15 divisions, over 700 aircraft, more than 3000 artillery pieces and scores of Russian-made ground-to-ground missiles.