Egyptians Reject Detailed Autonomy ‘model’ Presented by Israel

The Israeli working team in the autonomy negotiations with Egypt returned from their latest session in Cairo today clearly taken aback by the vehemence of the Egyptians’ rejection of the detailed autonomy “model” presented by Israel. While no agreement had been anticipated, the tone of the Egyptian response was unexpectedly sharp.

Izzat Abdul Latif, head of the Egyptian working group, called the Israeli proposals “a step backward” based on an old, discredited autonomy plan which pre-dated the peace agreement and was rejected by Egypt at the time. Dan Pattir, the Israeli spokesman, retorted that the Israeli proposals were an accurate reflection of the principles embodied in the Camp David agreements and not the “distorted interpretation by Egypt.”

ELEMENTS IN THE ‘MODEL’

The Egyptians insist that autonomy lead to self-determination by the Palestinians. The Israelis are determined to limit the powers of the autonomous authority to local administrative functions. The Israeli “model” divided the functions into three categories: those that would be carried out entirely by the elected administrative council; those that the council would share with Israeli authorities; and those to be retained exclusively by Israel.

The first category includes agriculture, health services, religious affairs, local commerce and industry, labor and welfare, finance, education and culture, local affairs and local police. Shared authority would be exercised in the fields of transportation and communications and personnel. While education would be administered autonomously, Israel would retain control over text books. Israel would also be in exclusive control of sanitation services, imports and exports, public works and overall security. The autonomous authority would have no powers to legislate.

The gap between Israel and Egypt remains as wide as ever. Premier Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat mode no progress on autonomy at their summit meeting in Aswan last week. According to observers here, it remains to be seen whether U.S. special Ambassador Sol Linowitz will be able to break the impasse when he visits the region again later this month.

(In Washington, Secretary as State Cyrus Vance has disclosed that Linowitz’s trip will include visiting the so-called Arab moderate states such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Morocco. This is being viewed here in some quarters as a mission to assure the Arabs that the U.S. plans to make a strong effort to speed up the autonomy talks.)

Meanwhile, inferior Minister Yosef Burg, who heads the Israeli autonomy negotiating team, told a press conference in Tel Aviv tonight that he will recommend to the government that it reject Sadat’s proposal that autonomy be implemented in the Gaza Strip before it is extended to the West Bank as to ally unacceptable, the same way that the Egyptians rejected Israel’s “model.” Grim faced Burg told reporters: “I am sorry that the Egyptians were in a rush to reject our plan. This is a real slowdown, an unwarranted slowdown in the talks. I would say that the Egyptian decision took us back six months and even more.”