Egypt’s reply to an Israeli complaint that Egypt is maintaining more battalions in the Sinai buffer zone than is permitted by the second Sinai accord is unsatisfactory. Israel will continue to press on the issue, Defense Minister Shimon Peres said tonight. Israel had complained of four apparent violations.
Peres made his statement after meeting for an hour with Gen. Ensio Siilasvuo, commander of the United Nations forces in the Middle East, on the latter’s return to Israel after he met in Cairo with Egyptian Defense Minister Gen. Gammasy on the complaints. Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur attended the Peres-Siilasvuo meeting.
Israel complained that Egypt had placed 16 battalions in the Sinai, twice the number permitted by the accord; of Egyptian helicopter flyovers of the buffer zone for intelligence purposes; construction of missile sites east of the Suez Canal; and movement of Bedouins from north to south in the buffer zone: Egypt had agreed to see to it that the 7000 Bedouins in the buffer zone would stay in its northern end.
Peres noted that the UN headquarters had estimated that there were 11 battalions in the zone and added that this meant that the UN agreed with Israel’s view that the number was excessive. He said that Egyptian replies on the other three complaints, as relayed by Siilasvuo, were satisfactory. Peres noted that for several days no helicopters had made flyovers. He said Israel could not accept the Egyptian statement that there had not been any basic change in the number of the battalions, there having been only a reorganization of the battalions.
Apart from that difference, Peres said, the impression was that both countries were engaged in keeping the Sinai accord conditions. Siilasvuo is expected to go to Cairo again for more talks with Gammasy. Siilasvuo said he had not set a date for another Cairo meeting, but that he believed he would go again next week.
SHARON WARNS ABOUT EGYPT
Meanwhile, Gen. Ariel Sharon (Res.) charged yesterday that the Egyptians are preparing hundreds of missile sites on the east bank of the Suez Canal in violation of the Israeli-Egyptian Sinai agreement. Speaking to students in Haifa, Sharon said the government was playing down the Egyptian violations while feeding the public with stories about the “good fence” along the Lebanese border.
“The Egyptians have used helicopters where they were not supposed to they use Bedouin tribesmen to spy on our forces, and brought into their zone more weapons than permitted.” Sharon added. “All we did was to tell the UN about it, and even if the Egyptians took some corrective action, it shows their attitude to the agreement, which they continue to violate.” Sharon, who resigned several months ago as a military advisor to Premier Yitzhak Rabin, is expected to rejoin the Likud opposition which he founded.
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