Two truckloads of antiquities excavated in Sinai by Israeli archaeologists between 1967 and 1982 were returned to Egypt this week, under an agreement reached last year between the two countries’ archaeological authorities.
The transfer, to be completed by the end of 1994, is to include all antiquities found in Sinai in the 15 years the peninsula was in Israeli hands.
The artifacts were accepted at a ceremony in Jerusalem by Egyptian Antiquities Department curator Mohammed Abed el Maksud. “The return of the antiquities shows enlightened and cultured behavior on the part of Israel. We are dealing with our Israeli colleagues as friends,” he said.
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