Residents of Yamit, due to abandon their homes next year when the area is handed back to Egypt under the peace treaty, today blocked the main road from Israel to Egypt for five hours, protesting what they term delays in a government decision on compensation to be paid to them and the rate of taxation on any payments made.
They agreed to reopen the road to traffic only after they were informed Premier Menachem Begin had agreed to meet their representatives to discuss the issue. The residents drove slowly along the roadway until halted by a military roadblock set up to stop them. They thereupon declared that they were not blocking the roadway but merely driving along to a meeting, while the military were blocking passage.
Several buses carrying tourists from Israel to Egypt were held up for five hours before being able to continue their vacations.
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