Top level Israeli and Egyptian officials continued to grapple here today with last minute issues that stand in the way of Israel’s final withdrawal from Sinai next Sunday.
The Egyptian team, which arrived this morning, headed by Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier Kamal Hassan Ali and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Butros Ghali, met for two hours with Premier Menachem Begin, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. (Late story, p.3.)
Neither side would make a statement after the session. Both are conferring with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Walter Stoessel Jr. who has been in the region since last week, shuttling between Jerusalem and Cairo. The presence of the senior State Department official, second only to Secretary of State Alexander Haig, underlined the urgency Washington attaches to a successful resolution of the differences between Israel and Egypt.
The issues which surfaced as the Sinai pull-out deadline approached include Israeli allegations of Egyptian peace treaty violations; a last minute Israeli demand, rejected by Cairo, that Egypt affer a written pledge to abide by the Camp David accords after the Sinai withdrawal takes place; and a so far intractable dispute over a sliver of territory–about 125 acres-near Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat which both countries olaim.
The Cabinet decided at its regular weekly session yesterday to reconvene Wednesday before putting its final stamp of approval on the Sinai withdrawal. By then, the ministers expect to know whether Egypt has corrected its alleged violations, among them charges of aiding arms smuggling from Sinai to Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip and the excessive deployment of Egyptian troops in the limited forces zone of Sinai.
EGYPTIANS APPEAR OPTIMISTIC
Informed sources here continued to predict that the pull-out will take place on schedule. Hassan Ali appeared optimistic when he landed at the Ben Gurion Airport this morning, saying that all differences would be cleared up “today.” Shamir, who met him at the airport, stressed that Israel was willing to discuss all controversial issues and expressed hope that these talks would “contribute to strengthening the peace.” Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt, Moshe Sasson, also came home for the talks.
The Egyptians lunched with Sharon this afternoon, following their meeting with Begin. They were to confer with Stoessel again before another session with the Premier this evening. The intensive, high powered American diplomatic efforts seemed aimed at smoothing over the differences and spurring both sides to early resolution.
Some within the Israeli camp insist that Israel stand firm on the Taba border dispute near Eilat. They suggest that Israel refuse to withdraw from the enclave unless Egypt accepts a proposal for an Interim civilian status quo pending a final resolution of the dispute by arbitration.
This would mean that the large Israeli resort hotel nearing completion at Taba would open as planned under Israeli management. The Egyptians insist that work on the hotel be suspended pending the arbitrator’s decision which could take months, or even years, before it is rendered.
Cairo reportedly has accepted part of the Israeli suggestion that Israeli forces withdraw to the Egyptian-proposed line east of Taba and the Egyptians would advance to the Israeli-proposed line west of the region. The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) would police the few hundred yards of disputed beach on which the hotel stands.
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