After several explained postponements, the overland shipment of goods between Israel and Egypt, hailed as a major step in normalization of relations between the two countries, has finally become fact.
A 13-ton shipment of bananas had the honor of being the first Israeli goods sent to Egypt yesterday. The unripe fruit arrived at the Neot Sinai crossing point in a giant semi-trailer truck from Kibbutz Hakuk in lower Galilee and was trans-shipped into two smaller Egyptian vehicles for onward passage to Cairo. Some 20 tons of paper, produced by the Hadera Paper Mills, is due for shipment on Thursday.
Israeli officials now say the postponements of the shipments were not due to any political problems but to technical hitches in the transfer of money from Egypt to Israel.
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