Israel has delayed sending a cargo through the Suez Canal to test Egyptian intentions at the strong urging of the United States not to add to the discomfiture of President Anwar Sadat who is under severe attack and heavy pressure from Arab opponents of the interim accord he signed with Israel last month, it was learned today. The test was also delayed because of the excessive publicity surrounding the movements of the ship that may have been the first to attempt to take an Israeli cargo through the Egyptian waterway.
Although Israeli authorities had warned local maritime circles to avoid publicizing the event, all eyes were focussed on the 7000-ton Greek freighter Valentina P. chartered by Israel’s Zim Lines to carry a cargo of tractors and cement from Rumania to Eilat. The vessel’s Master is known to have been briefed on a Suez passage and the necessary insurance arrangements were made for the ship and crew. But the Valentina P., apparently bound for the Suez Canal from the Black Sea, was diverted to Haifa where she discharged her 5000-ton cargo this morning. The tractors and cement will be sent to Eilat via Israel’s “land bridge,” meaning by truck. Circles here believe that Israel will eventually test the Egyptian undertaking to permit its cargoes through the canal but when that will be is a matter of speculation.
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