A high level Egyptian delegation representing the ruling National Democratic Party, arrived here yesterday as guests of the Labor Party, for a three-day “fraternal” visit. They told reporters at Ben Gurion Airport that Egypt was determined not to resume ties with the Arab countries at the expense of Israel.
The mission is headed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Butros Ghali, and former Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil, who is deputy chairman of the National Democratic Party. Other members include Mohammad Abdallah, chairman of the foreign relations committee of the Egyptian Parliament and Mohammad Shazli, a deputy leader of the National Democratic Party.
The guests said they had no objections to holding talks with Labor Party leaders in Jerusalem because they were in Israel as representatives of a political party, not their government. Israel and Egypt are presently deadlocked over Cairo’s refusal to hold autonomy negotiations in Jerusalem and Israel’s insistance that at least some of the sessions take place in its capital.
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