Israel and Egypt have concluded an agreement covering land and sea transportation between the two countries. The pact; signed on the eve of Passover, is in addition to the air-transportation agreement which went into effect last month, and is seen here as one more advance in the process of normalization.
The new agreement, effective April 15, establishes the regulations for motor travel between Israel and Egypt via Sinai. It also provides berthing facilities, harbor services, pilotage and other technical and business requirements for the merchant ships of each country in the ports and territorial waters of the other.
The land travel agreement is of most interest to Israelis planning to visit Egypt. Private cars will be able to cross the border at Neot Sinai or any other official crossing point. The drivers will require a car registration, international driver’s license and a visa. Each car may carry as many as seven persons. The same rules will apply to Egyptians driving to Israel.
It was learned, meanwhile, that Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil of Egypt will host a special reception in Cairo for the Israeli Ambassador, Eliahu Ben-Elissar. This was conveyed to Premier Menachem Begin by the Egyptian Ambassador to Israel, Saod Mortoda. Apparently, Begin had expressed some concern recently over Ben-Elissar’s social isolation in the Egyptian capital. Israeli journalists have reported from Cairo that Ben-Elissar is shunned by Egypt’s social and diplomatic elite who have no contact with him beyond the minimum required by protocol. Mortoda did not indicate when the reception would be held.
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