Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamol Hassan Ali, on a one-day visit to Israel, is touring the old international boundary in Sinai with Defense Minister Ariel Sharon today. Their helicopter survey is intended to help them reach an agreement on details of the border to be established between Israel and Egypt after Israel completes its withdrawal from Sinai on April 25.
While no difficulties are anticipated, some knotty problems remain to be solved. One concerns the town of Rafah, part of which is in Sinai and part in the Gaza Strip. The two ministers must decide how to avoid destroying houses which lie athwart the border line. If the old frontier is revived, border checkpoints and customs inspection facilities would have to be erected on the main streets of Rafah.
At the southern end of the line, near Eilat, the Israelis claim that inaccurate measurements were made when the boundary was originally drawn in 1906. The difference amounts to only a few hundred yards but the way it is settled will determine whether the popular Rafi Nelson skin diving resort and hotel complex will be in Egypt or Israel. The Egyptians demand that the border be exactly as it was before Israel captured Sinai in 1967 and refuse to consider a compromise.
Israel insists that the inaccuracies be corrected before it withdraws from Sinai. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has reportedly suggested international arbitration of the border issue if the two sides cannot reach agreement by the April 25 deadline.
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