Egypt has lifted the ban it imposed on Israel’s participation in the international book fair opening in Cairo next week, Kol Israel Radio reported from Cairo today. The report said the Egyptians acted following a meeting today between the Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, Eliahu Ben-Elissar and Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali. The meeting had been requested by Ben-Elissar.
It was only on Monday that Israel learned of the ban. The Egyptians offered no explanation. More than 40 Israeli publishers had gone to much effort and considerable expense to arrange an Israeli pavilion at the fair which was to be the first international event in Egypt in which Israel would take part.
Israeli officials regarded the preemptory move as a serious setback to the normalization process between the two countries. But it was reported here yesterday that President Anwar Sadat had been unaware of the ban and would order it rescinded.
The Israel Publishers Association, which organized the pavilion, plans to exhibit 330 titles at the fair, one-third of them Arabic books. Up to 300 copies of each book were shipped to Cairo earlier.
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