Historic document signed

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33381, 13 November 1973, Page 17

Historic document signed

Copyright) KILOMETRE 101, CAIRO-SUEZ ROAD, November 12. In a hastily-erected, drab green tent in the desert, Israel and Egypt yesterday signed the historic six-point agreement seaK ng their cease-fire and opening the door to nego Nations for peace in the fl Kiddle East for the first l ime for 25 years. The Agreement, negotiated and drawn up by the United States Secretary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger) was signed by a General from each side at about 3.20 p.m. (2.20 a.m., New Zealand time, Monday) at a table covered by bluegrey wo< >llen blankets in the tent at 1 he Kilometre Marker 101, on the road between Cairo art i Suez. It wai the first time that represent athes of the two countries had sat face to face to jsign a joint agreement sitice the 1949 Rhodes cease-fire that ended the first Israeli-At ab conflict. The fVuits of talks in Washington, and of a hectic tour of fiv e Arab capitals by Dr Kissinger on his way to Peking, th; document sealed the United Nations cease-fire proposed by the United States and Russia to end the fourth Ara b-Israeli war. General Ahron Yariv, the former chief of Israeli military intelligence and now a special adv iser to the Prime Minister (J Irs Meir) signed for Israel. Egypt’s signatory was General Mohammed Gamazi, chief of operations and second-in-cd mmand of the Egyptian An my. For the United Nations, General Enlsio Siilasvuo, a Finn, preside d over the ceremony. Coi'u of barbed wire flanked the tent, and a large United Nations flag fluttered overhead. S< ?parate Israeli and Egyptiai i tents were nearby. Strugging no see or gain

entrance, nearly 400 newspaper representatives pressed against lines of military policemen from both sides and the United Nations peace-keeping troops. The machinery of war remained in position as the first step towards peace was being taken. Across the road from the site, six Israeli soldiers manned a machine-gun with the muzzle pointing in the direction of Cairo. “With the signing of this agreement with Egypt, we have taken the first step on the long, hard road that will lead us to a settlement of the conflict with our neighbours, and to peace with them,” General Yariv said after the ceremony. By a curious historical coincidence which passed almost unnoticed, it was the fifty-fifth anniversary of the November 11, 1918, armistice that ended the First World War between Germany and the Western Allies. P.O.W. exchange The cease-fire agreement called for the exchange, almost immediately, of about 320 Israeli war prisoners from Egyptian captivity, and of about 8000 Egyptians held by Israel. In return, Israel undertook to open a corridor, under United Nations supervision, permitting continuous supplies of food, water and medicines to be sent to the 20,000 men of the beleagured Egyptian third Army in the Sinai, and to 10,000 Egyptian civilians in the besieged city of Suez. It also provided for the immediate beginning of negotiations on “the disengagement and separation of forces.” This, it specified, would include the possibility of a return to the original October 22 cease-fire line. This is expected to cause considerable difficulty, since Israel extended her occupation of the Egyptian west bank of the canal, and completed the encirclement of the city of Suez and of the

Third Army after that date. The agreement did not mention the Egyptian naval blockade on the Straits of Bar El-Mandeb, at the southern end of the Red Sea, which, since October 6, has clamped a stranglehold on shipping to and from Israel’s southern port of Eilat. Israel originally insisted that the lifting of the blockade must form part of the agreement. Egypt, which has never publicly admitted imposing the blockade, refused. Israel finally accepted a United States pledge that Egypt would lift the blockade as “a tacit understanding” forming part of the agreement. The six points of the agreement are: Egypt and Israel agree to observe scrupulously the United Nations Security Council’s cease-fire. Both agree to begin talks immediately to settle the question of the return to the October 22 positions in the framework of the agreement on the disengagement and separation of forces under United Nations auspices. Suez City will receive daily supplies of food, water and medicines, and all wounded civilians will be taken to safety. There will be no impediment to movement of nonmilitary supplies to the Egyptian forces on the east bank. Israeli check-points on the Cairo-Suez road will be replaced by United Nations check-points. At the Suez end of the road, Israeli officers may share with the United Nations the supervision of non-mili-tary supplies at the Suez Canal bank. As soon as United Nations check-points are established on the Cairo-Suez road, there will be an exchange of all prisoners, beginning with the wounded.

There was no mention of talks on future peace, but Israeli officials said it was understood that these would begin soon. Arab reports have said that the talks might open around December 10, in Geneva. The Israeli Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Yigal Allon) said that the agreement provided a comfortable starting point for negotiations between Israel and Egypt as equals. With its signing, he said, it would be logical for the Soviet Union to restore diplomatic relations with the Jewish State. In Cyprus, a Red Cross spokesman said that two of its aircraft might soon fly. to Tel Aviv and Cairo to begin the first prisoner-of-war exchange between Israel and Egypt.