An agreement of sale is expected to be signed Sunday transferring the Taba resort facilities to Egyptian ownership.
Complete agreement has also been reached on the touchy issue of Israeli access to the beach enclave after it reverts to Egyptian sovereignty.
It will mark the end of a six-year border dispute between Israel and Egypt, which narrowed down in its final stages to technical matters and the disposal of tourism assets.
After more than two weeks of hard bargaining that began in Cairo Feb. 6, Egypt agreed Tuesday to pay Eli Papushado, owner of the luxury Avia Sonesta Hotel, $37 million in cash and another $3 million payable out of the hotel’s earnings over the next five years.
Papushado and his senior staff will stay on to operate and manage the 322-room hotel under a 20-year contract with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. The hotel will continue to get its supplies from the nearby Israeli resort town of Eilat.
The Egyptians also agreed to pay $1.5 million for the Rafi Nelson Vacation Village, a less posh resort that shares the Taba beach with the Sonesta Hotel.
All that remains to be settled before the formal signing is the location of the last 185 yards of boundary separating Taba from Israel. It was left open by the international arbitration panel that awarded Taba to Egypt last year.
The negotiations on that and other technical matters have been conducted by Israeli and Egyptian teams meeting in Taba since January. An American observer mission served as an unofficial mediator when talks threatened to break down.
But both sides have now met the Feb. 26 deadline they set for an agreement. Egypt is expected to take physical possession of Taba on March 15.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
