A Defense Department spokesman estimated today that the two military air bases the U.S. has pledged to build for Israel in the Negev could cost up to $1 billion. He said the Administration would request the funding from Congress in the form of an outright military grant to Israel rather than a loan.
The airfields will be built to compensate Israel for relinquishing its two air bases in eastern Sinai when Sinai is restored to Egyptian sovereignty. Under the agreements signed by Israel and Egypt after the Camp David summit conference Sunday night, Israel is to withdraw its military forces from Sinai within three years after signing a peace treaty with Egypt.
According to Pentagon spokesman Tom Ross, preliminary estimates of the cost of the two air bases “range all the way from $150 million to $500 million apiece.” He said that only a few American military technicians would be involved in planning the bases and estimating their cost. The actual construction will apparently be by Israeli labor. Ross said Defense Secretary Harold Brown would visit Israel and Egypt some time next year in response to invitations from the defense ministers of those countries.
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