Navon: Egypt Visit a Major Success

President Yitzhak Navon ended his five-day visit to Egypt today, hailing it as a success beyond expectations. He offered that assessment in remarks last night to a group of Israeli editors who accompanied him.

Navon said he came to Egypt with the intention of establishing new ties and improving existing ones. In his talks with President Anwar Sadat, he said, several understandings were reached which further those purposes. Navon noted that both countries have undertaken to establish rood transportation to improve trade between them, to increase air service for the benefits of tourists and others and to initiate economic, cultural, professional and youth exchanges.

Navon and his wife Ophira gave a gala dinner last night for Sadat and his wife Jihan at the Abdin Palace where the Israeli guests stayed during their visit to Cairo. The Egyptian President declared that Egypt will always adhere to its commitments and will always be faithful to its friends. He recalled the warmth of the greetings he received on his visits to Israel. Navon expressed his thanks for the hospitality shown him and his wife by the Egyptian people.

FRANK TALK BY KHALIL

Earlier yesterday, Navon addressed the 60-member Council of the National Democratic Party, Egypt’s governing party and was well received by his audience of top political figures. (See yesterday’s Bulletin.) Former Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil, chairman of the Council, followed him on the podium with a friendly but frank discourse in which he summarized Jewish history from the Patriarch Abraham to the modern State of Israel.

He did not doubt the right of Israel to exist. It was founded on the basis of a United Nations decision, Khalil said. He credited Egypt with taking the initiative for peace and for agreeing with Israel to try to solve the question of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. The agreement, he said, was for full autonomy.

According to Khalil, there can be no separation between land and people, a reference to Israel’s position that autonomy is for the people of the occupied territories, not for the land. Khalil maintained that a solution of the Palestinian issue is the basis for an overall settlement in the region, Security means security for all sides and there can be no security without peace, he said.

Khalil took issue with Navon’s earlier remark that Israelis have been disappointed up to now by the slow pace of normalization. According to the Egyptian official, there is no basis for such feeling in Israel. “We want to promote it (normalization) and we do act toward that end,” he said.