Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said last night that Israel took a calculated risk when it agreed to pull back its forces east of the Suez Canal but that the risk “may bring us nearer to peace.” Addressing a meeting here of former Rafi members, Dayan said the real test of the disengagement agreement with Egypt will come when the separation of forces is completed in 40 days and if Egypt follows it up by rehabilitating the Suez Canal and restoring normal civilian life in the canal side towns.
Dayan refuted a charge by Likud leader Gen. Ariel Sharon that Israel blundered by giving up a strategically vital ridge 10 miles east of the canal under the terms of the disengagement agreement. If Israel had kept the ridge, the Suez Canal would have remained in range of Israeli artillery, Dayan said, and this would have prevented the normalization of life in the Suez Canal zone.
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