The Israeli and Egyptian delegations to the Cairo conference will hold their first working session here this evening. Officials said it would be an “informal” meeting to work out procedures for the conference that opens formally tomorrow morning. The talks are expected to continue without a break through Dec. 22. (See related stories.)
The Israeli negotiating team arrived at Cairo airport this morning and was whisked by helicopter to the Mena House, the luxury hotel overlooking the pyramids and the sphinx which will serve as conference headquarters. The chief Egyptian delegate, UN Ambassador Ahmed Esmat Meguid, greeted his Israeli counterpart, Eliahu Ben-Elissar warmly as he emerged from a black limousine with his fellow delegates, legal expert Meir Rosenne and Gen. Abraham Tamir.
The tall, bearded Ben-Elissar wore a determined smile on his face, stood ramrod straight and told Meguid “I am terribly pleased to meet you” as he clasped the Egyptian diplomat’s hand. Rosenne and Tamir were less able to conceal their excitement. Both looked pale and were perspiring as they shook hands with Meguid. Before the group entered the hotel, Ben-Elissar told Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent Maurice Samuelson, “We had a wonderful flight.” He would say nothing more.
The American party that will represent the U.S. at the Cairo talks, headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs Alfred L. Atherton, was due at the Mena House later today, as was the United Nations contingent. There was no sign this morning of the Vatican’s representative who has reportedly arrived in Cairo.
Observers here said he was unlikely to participate in the conference but would be accorded some sort of observer status. Israeli sources were pleased by the Pope’s decision to send a representative since it lent weight and standing to the Cairo talks and provided welcome support for President Anwar Sadat’s peace initiative.
HEAVY SECURITY AT CONFERENCE SITE
The entire Mena House complex, a resort patronized by affluent Egyptians and well-to-do visitors from abroad, was sealed off by helmeted police and plain clothes security men today. All Israeli nationals, including journalists, will be quartered at the hotel for the conference. Hundreds of other correspondents will be housed at the Jolie Ville Hotel a half mile away.
The Egyptian government is picking up the tab at Mena House as a reciprocal gesture for the hospitality extended Sadat and his party when they visited Jerusalem last month. The hotel, a conglomeration of modern and classical architecture, is owned by the government and managed by on Indian firm whose personnel was trained in Austria. The manager told the JTA that everything is “on the house” except hard liquor.
When the hotel was selected to be conference headquarters, the management made preparations to provide the Israeli delegation with kosher food. It tried to enlist a local Jewish ritual slaughterer but the project proved too ambitious, the JTA learned. The manager has made tentative arrangements with Austrian Airlines to fly in pre-packaged kosher meals. “I am awaiting instructions of the Israeli delegation,” he told the JTA this morning. An Israeli spokesman said Ben-Elissar has not decided yet whether that service will be required.
SPONTANEOUS RENDITION OF SHALOM ALEICHEM
The first Israeli aircraft to land at Cairo airport arrived here last night with 65 foreign correspondents, including many Israelis, among them the JTA’s news team. An excited stewardess aboard the chartered Arkia BAC-III broke into a spontaneous rendition of “Havenu Shalom Aleichem” over the plane’s PA system as it touched down at the airport.
The plane returned to Tel Aviv immediately after landing its passengers, but not before the stewardesses handed out colorful Arkia flight bags to the Egyptian ground crew and others on the tarmac.
The journalists, under heavy security guard, spent the next five hours undergoing “formalities” which included filling out countless forms at the airport and the laborious process of accreditation at the government press office in Cairo. This lasted until 4 a.m. local time today which allowed only a brief nap before rushing to Mena House to witness the arrival of the Israeli delegation.
About 30 Israeli reporters accompanied the Israeli negotiators on an El Al jet that landed this morning after what they described as a “jolly flight” replete with singing and hand clapping on touchdown. Many of them sported carnations handed out by the El Al flight staff enroute. Israeli officials told the JTA they were not sure yet whether an air link between Tel Aviv and Cairo would be maintained for the duration of the conference.
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