Defense Minister Shimon Peres expressed cautious optimism today over the course of Israeli relations with Egypt. He told the Knesset that all indications at the moment pointed to a desire on the part of the Egyptian government and people to pursue “the political option” rather than the war option for the time being and to concentrate on revitalizing Egypt’s staggering economy.
Peres speaking in reply to a Likud motion to debate “Egyptian war threats” seemed to be justifying the government’s decision to explore Arab attitudes toward an end-of-war or non-belligerence agreement and implied that Israel was pre- pared to enter such an agreement with Egypt alone. The American initiative aimed at testing Arab attitudes toward ending the state of war is directed at Syria and Jordan as well as Egypt.
Peres recalled Israel’s offer last year to return two-thirds of the Sinai territory to Egypt in exchange for non-belligerence and indicated that the offer, rejected by Egypt at the time, still held Many elements in Israel believe the offer was a grave tactical error on Israel’s part.
Peres tempered his optimism by noting that the interim agreement signed with Egypt last September was of three years’ duration which would give Egypt the time to refurbish its army and shift from Soviet to Western weapons systems. Israel is keeping up its military guard and increasing its military strength. Peres said.
NO BUILD-UP FOR WAR
He noted, however, that there was no pressure on the Egyptian government from the people at this time for an immediate resumption of active war against Israel. Although such pressure could build up again, Peres said there was a noticeable feeling among the Egyptians that after many years of sacrifice on behalf of the Palestinian cause, the time has come to devote more efforts to improving Egypt’s economy and standard of living.
Peres also referred to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s reported warning in Kuwait last weekend that Egypt would not allow Syria to draw it into a new war with Israel. Peres said Sadat may have been signalling President Hafez Assad of Syria that even though Egypt has now received all the benefits of its interim accord with Israel, Cairo intends to continue to observe the terms of the pact and will not be pushed by Syria into violating them.
Peres acknowledged that Egypt’s observance of the agreement has not been “100 percent” and cited Cairo’s failure to moderate its anti-Israel propaganda. But Egyptian propaganda is still much milder than Syria’s, Peres observed. He cautioned, however, that there was pressure on Sadat from Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Arab states that are financing Egypt’s economy to heal his rift with Syria. He will have to take that pressure into consideration, Peres said.
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