President Anwar Sadat angrily defied the 16 Arab states that have broken relations with Egypt because of its peace treaty with Israel and pledged, in a May Day speech today to “dispel Israeli fears and suspicions. Let those (Arabs) who broke off relations with us understand that we shall not retreat,” he said.” God willing, the peace operation and the normalization of relations will continue.”
Sadat added, in his speech at the Red Sea town of Safaga, “If Israel makes one step forward, we shall match it with two steps to encourage it.” He was especially bitter toward Saudi Arabia, Egypt’s principal financial backer since the Yom Kippur War, and accused the Saudis of bribing other Arab states to sever relations with Egypt.
The Egyptian leader said those countries were either paid or took the action as a courtesy to Saudi Arabia because of its oil wealth. “The countries which were paid and those who did it out of courtesy told me,” Sadat said. He charged that the Saudis themselves were blackmailed by the leaders of Syria, Iraq, Libya and the Palestinians.
Sadat did not rule out a cut-off of Saudi money to finance Egypt’s purchases of weapons from the U.S. But he said revenues from the Suez Canal and the Sinai oil fields, once they are returned to Egypt, would compensate for the expected loss. Sadat pledged to do his utmost to advance the establishment of a Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip but said he would not negotiate with Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria.
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