Israel apparently is prepared to yield to Egypt’s insistence that their border dispute over Taba be put to international arbitration, provided agreement is reached on an overall “package” of issues to be settled between the two countries.
Government sources expect the decisive debate on Taba to take place at a meeting of the inner Cabinet next week, when Deputy Premier Yitzhak Shamir and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin will have returned from trips abroad. The inner Cabinet consists of 10 senior ministers, five Labor and five Likud.
Likud leader Shamir, only last week, continued to press for an alternative to arbitration in settling the ownership of Taba, a small strip of beach on the Gulf of Aqaba. He expressed his position to the visiting Egyptian Energy Minister, Abdel Hadi Kandil. But political observers believe that Shamir ultimately will go along with arbitration in order to avoid a confrontation within the Labor-Likud unity coalition, provided that other elements of the package fall into place.
AIM IS TO IMPROVE RELATIONS
Israel’s aim is to improve bilateral relations which have been soured ever since Egypt recalled its Ambassador from Tel Aviv in 1982, during the Lebanon war. Israeli officials seemed encouraged, after a round of talks in Cairo last week, that progress can be made toward a “package” deal. They spoke of a “favorable atmosphere” during a long meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismet Abdel-Meguid. The Israeli negotiating team was headed by David Kimche, Director General of the Foreign Ministry, and Gen. Avraham Tamir, Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The officials said the question of the return of the Egyptian Ambassador was very much on the agenda.
Israel and Egypt meanwhile have begun informal talks on the terms of reference for an arbitration compromise over Taba. One of the differences which must be settled concerns formulation of the question the arbiter will have to decide. This depends on where the Israel-Sinai border is located. Israel, which has dug up a wealth of material dating back to 1906 when the Ottoman Turks measured the border, prefers to rely on that date. The Egyptians hold to the placement of border marker stones in more recent times which tends to support their claims.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
