Newsweek magazine reported today what it said was a series of verbal agreements between President Carter and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt at the Camp David summit conference last month covering U.S. aid to Egypt and strategic matters. According to sources which Newsweek did not identify, Carter promised that a consortium of Western nations organized by the U.S. would compensate Egypt for any cut off or reduction of aid from Arab sources in retaliation for the Camp David accords.
U.S. economic and military aid to Egypt and Israel would be roughly equal after the two countries implemented their peace treaty, Carter reportedly told Sadat in what Newsweek said was a private statement of intentions rather than a specific commitment. Other points, according to Newsweek were:
The strategic redeployment of Egyptian forces from Sinai to the Libyan border; secret cooperation between Egyptian and Israeli intelligence, begun at the time of the Libyan-Soviet build-up against Egypt in 1976, would be expanded; reduction of the Egyptian army by half while increasing its fire power with U.S. armor and weapons to protect Egypt from the Soviet Union or its surrogates; agreement between Carter and Sadat that U.S. arms deliveries would be linked to progress in implementing the Camp David accords, including the West Bank issue.
Israel, for its part, would benefit from American technology to advance its own armaments industry and would be allowed to purchase the full quota of F-15 and F-16 jets that it has requested, Newsweek said.
Time magazine reported today that the American draft peace treaty under discussion by Israel and Egypt at their peace talks in Washington is an eight-page document spelling out the main issues. Time said it learned that the chief issues under discussion are normalization of relations between Israel and Egypt, including open borders and exchange of ambassadors; a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai; and future economic relations, including trade and possible joint ventures.
Time said that one possible sticking point concerned Israel’s oil installations in Sinai for which it may seek compensation from Egypt or an Egyptian guarantee to sell oil to Israel.
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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.
