Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman will leave for Washington tomorrow for urgent discussions of a bilateral Israeli U.S. agreement to be signed simultaneously with the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. Leaving with them is Amram Sivan. Director General of the finance Ministry.
Dayan, accompanied by the Foreign Ministry’s legal advisor, Meir Rosenne, will comprise one team to discuss American guarantees to Israel after the treaty with Egypt is signed. This will include the commitment to provide for Israel’s oil needs. Weizman and Sivan will discuss U.S. military and economic aid to Israel. Both teams are expected to conclude their negotiations within a week in order to present the U.S. Israeli agreement to the Cabinet before a treaty is signed.
It was learned today that Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich will go to Washington after the treaty signing to negotiate American economic assistance required to implement the treaty provisions calling for Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai. Israel has asked for some $3.3 billion for that purpose. Israeli economic circles now say that $4 billion will be needed, a sum believed to have been suggested in the talks with President Carter in Jerusalem over the weekend.
So far, the Treasury does not intend to revise its budget. But if the costs of redeployment from Sinai exceed IL 8 billion in the first year, it is expected that changes in the budget will be necessary. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has already established a special committee to examine the impact of peace on Israel’s economy.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
