Gen. Herzl Shaffir, the ranking Israeli who helped conclude the Sinai protocol in Geneva, told a press conference on his return here last night that the accord was good for Israel and Egypt. “Under the present circumstance it is a really good agreement,” he said. Shaffir denied that Israel had conceded too much. “When we settled the timetable and the other issues we took into consideration the needs of the other side (Egypt), just as the other side took our needs into consideration.”
He said that the Mitle and Gidi Passes would be the last to be handed over to the United Nations, Israel is to evacuate the area Feb. 21, 1976 and the UN Emergency Force (UNEF) will take over the next day. These dates, Shaffir said, are subject to confirmation by the U.S. Congress on the stationing of U.S. civilian personnel in Sinai to monitor the early warning systems. Should there be a delay in the confirmation, then a relative delay will also take place in the timetable of Israel’s evacuation, he added.
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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.
