U.S. Sounding out Egypt, Saudi Arabia on Leasing Sharm El-sheikh to Israel

The United States is feeling out the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the possibility of leasing to Israel the Sharm el-Sheikh strongpoint in southern Sinai or the off-shore islands of Sanafir and Tiran opposite Sharm el-Sheikh, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned from reliable sources today. Such an arrangement would enable Israel to control the strategic Straits of Tiran giving its port of Ellat access to the sea while Egypt and Saudi Arabia detained sovereignty over their territory. According to the report, an Israeli leasehold on the two islands would be an alternative to a lease on Sharm el-Sheikh. The islands guarding the Straits of Tiran were garrisoned by Egypt under an arrangement with the Saudi government in June, 1967. They are presently uninhabited. The JTA also learned reliably that in his private conversation in Washington last Monday with Israeli President Zalman Shazar, President Nixon promised that “as long as I am President the flow of arms to Israel will continue and the taps will remain open.” Nixon’s pledge, the sources said, was not conditional on Israeli concessions in the conflict with the Arabs. Nixon was also said to have stressed to Shazar that Israel should accept international guarantees and troops, asking: “Is there a greater security for Israel than American troops along the border and a written American guarantee?”