Egyptian Flag is Raised As Israel Hands over Taba

After seven years of informal squabbling, formal negotiations and international arbitration, the last square yards of Sinai were finally returned to Egypt on Wednesday.

The Egyptian flag was raised on a hilltop overlooking Taba precisely at noon, nearly 22 years after Israel captured the area.

Israelis described the situation in Taba Wednesday as “a general snafu” and “organized chaos” in last-minute arrangements that were completed in the minutes before noon.

The transfer ceremony itself was low key on the Israeli side, as Foreign Ministry officials and Israeli police quietly walked across the border, completing the withdrawal.

There was jubilation on the Egyptian side, however, as officials, soldiers and some 100 cheering Egyptians watched the long-disputed area become their territory. It marked the return of the final piece of the entire Sinai Desert captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israeli officials denied that the Israeli flag had been lowered in the enclave Tuesday to avoid doing so during the official raising of the Egyptian flag Wednesday.

They explained that official Israeli flags were always lowered at nightfall, but none was raised there again Wednesday morning.

As the hour approached, many Israeli journalists and tourists drove the short distance to Eilat to pick up their Israeli passports and return as Israeli tourists visiting a foreign country.

Last-minute preparations included financial arrangements for Israelis visiting a Taba and permission for Israeli soldiers and tourists to enter the Taba enclave without need for official permission to leave Israel.

Israelis will be allowed to take 300 shekels, or $170 a day, for their stay in Taba, up to a total of 4,000 shekels, or $2,200.

NO FOREIGN CURRENCY

Israelis are not allowed to take foreign currency into Taba, however. Inside the Taba Sonesta Hotel, formerly the Avia Sonesta, the Israel Discount Bank branch has been replaced by the Egyptian Misr Bank, where Israeli shekels can be exchanged for Egyptian pounds.

In the hotel, two telephone switchboards are now operating. One is linked to the Israeli Bezek national and international switchboard and the other to the Cairo exchange.

Some 65 of the Sonesta Hotel’s 350 Israeli employees have resigned rather than continue work under Egyptian ownership, even with the continued management of former hotel owner Eli Papushado.

They continued their at times unruly demonstration this morning, demanding separation compensation at the rate of 350 percent.

But after Israeli police detained several of the more violent demonstrators, they moved their demonstration to the Israeli side of the border.

The disgruntled former employees were bolstered by several score of right-wing and Kach movement members, who stood on the Israeli side of the border chanting that the Israeli government had treacherously handed over part of the “national heritage” to Egypt.

Egyptian celebrations at the hotel and at the nearby Rafi Nelson Resort Village were jubilant but unofficial.

The Egyptian government plans to hold official celebrations in the enclave on Sunday, probably with the participation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and possibly also with King Hussein of Jordan.

Meanwhile, relatives of Israelis killed or wounded at Ras Burka three years ago complained Wednesday that Taba had been handed over before the Egyptians had paid them compensation for their bereavement.

The incident was caused when an Egyptian border policeman went berserk and shot at Israeli tourists vacationing on the Sinai coast.

Egypt said Wednesday that the promised compensation would be paid in a few days, after a delay caused by bureaucratic procedures.