President Anwar Sadat’s dismissal of Vice President Aly Sabry, announced in Cairo last night, caught Israeli political circles by surprise. Sabry, who was named one of Egypt’s two Vice Presidents last Oct. 31 when Sadat succeeded the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, was generally regarded as sympathetic to the Soviet Union and deeply hostile to the United States. Foreign Ministry sources said today that they didn’t think Sabry’s ouster was planned as a conciliatory gesture toward the United States on the eve of Secretary of State William P. Rogers’ first visit to Cairo. But Ministry circles admitted that while Sadat may have been planning to get rid of Sabry for some time he chose the opportune moment to make it appear to be a pro-American gesture. Rogers is due in Cairo tomorrow and will leave Wednesday. Observers here noted that Sabry was dismissed brusquely and was not even offered the chance of a dignified resignation. The 50-year-old Egyptian politician was one of the officers who seized power from King Farouk under Nasser’s leadership in 1952. He served Nasser as Minister of State for Presidential Affairs, Premier. Vice President and Secretary General of the Arab Socialist Union, Egypt’s only political party.
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