First Egyptian Visa Office in Israel

The first Egyptian visa office in Israel opened for business in the lobby of the Tel Aviv Hilton Hotel yesterday. But only a few dozen of the 200-odd people on hand were seeking visas. The opening was a media event which coincided with the ceremonies in Jerusalem where Egyptian Ambassador Sood Mortoda presented his credentials to President Yitzhak Navon.

The visa office’s two-man staff, headed by Salob el-Din Soliman, Second Secretary of the Egyptian Embassy, patiently went through the clerical routine of receiving visa applications for the benefit of the local and international news media. The stamping and processing of document, a slow-moving tedious job that would normally attract no attention, became the focus of television news cameras.

THE FIRST APPLICANTS

The honor of being the first applicant went to Dieter Huckstein, the German-born, American citizen who is general manager of the Tel Aviv Hilton. He plans to be on El Al’s first commercial flight to Cairo next Monday. As cameras recorded the event, Huckstein found he was without cash and had to borrow the $2 visa fee from a television crew member. The second applicant was Pauline Grego, an Egyptian Jew who came to Israel six years ago. She was one of the few Israelis who managed to go to Cairo last October and she was going there again to try to persuade her son to join her in Israel.

Huckstein and Grego received their Egyptian visas immediately. Soliman explained that this was a gesture of good will. Most Israeli applicants will have to wait about 10 days. But foreign nationals of countries that have visa agreements with Egypt will be able to obtain them immediately. Soliman said that contrary to some reports, Israelis will not be required to show proof that they have a place to stay in Egypt. However; they will have to fly there as the overland route via El Arish has been closed pending the completion of negotiations between Egypt and Israel on the movement of tourists across Sinai.

The Hilton, one Tel Aviv’s luxury hotels overlooking the Mediterranean, is only a temporary home for the visa office and the Egyptian Embassy which occupies the 12th floor. Both will move when permanent premises are found. Meanwhile, the visa office is conveniently located in a corridor off the main lobby through which hundreds of guests and visitors pass daily. It was formerly the office of the hotel’s public relations manager, Rina Mor, a former “Miss Universe.” Mor told reporters she didn’t mind being displaced but said she had virtually no contact with the Egyptian diplomats.