Israel and the United States have signed an agreement for the United States to build two new airfields in the Negev to replace the two in the Sinai the Israelis are turning over to Egypt under the Egyptian Israeli peace treaty.
The agreement, which was signed last Friday by Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and David McGiffert, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, calls for the new airfields to be ready within three years, before Israel is scheduled to evacuate the Sinai bases at Elzion and Etam, Israel also plans to build a third new airfield near Beersheba. McGiffert, after holding additional talks with Weizman, left for Egypt and Jordan.
The U.S., under the agreement, will start construction in June and will be in charge of all construction work, including bringing in foreign labor. Special permission will be required to use Israeli workers for the project and they must be paid in Israeli currency in accordance with the salary structure in Israel. There were fears expressed last week that the Israeli workers would receive $150 a day, about 10 times the Israeli wage, causing havoc with the local 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.
