Sadat balks at draft treaty for M.E. peace

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 8

Sadat balks at draft treaty for M.E. peace

NZPA-Reuter Cairo President Anwar Sadat has sent back the final draft of a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel for further study by the delegations in Washington, the Egyptian Presidential spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman, Saad Zaghloul Nassar, said: “President Sadat has sent instructions to the Egyptian delegation in Washington saying that the draft needs further study in some of its parts.” The spokesman said that President Sadat made a thoriolJi study of the draft with his Prime Minister (Mr Mustapha Khalil) and Mrs Amal Osman, who is an expert in international law, and reached the decision that some parts of the draft needed further examination. He added: “This study is necessary before the treaty can be ready for signature.” The spokesman would not say which parts of the draft treaty needed to be clarified. Mrs Osman is also Egypt’s Minister of Social Affairs. Earlier, an American spokesman, George Sherman, told a press conference in Washington that the Egyptian and Israeli negotiating team at the Washington peace treaty talks had reached agreement on a nine-article draft. “The next stens are up to the Israeli and Egyptian Governments. They will have to approve the draft of the treaty before it can be signed.” In addition, the delegations had to resolve several other issues, Mr Sherman said, including terms for the sale of oil Israel discovered in the occupied Sinai, which would be returned to Egypt. The breakthrough in the talks came on Friday and Saturday, after the Israelis announced they were going

home to consult their Cabinet about issues their Foreign Minister (Mr Moshe Dayan) said he was “very doubtful” the delegations could resolve themselves. But the Israelis observed the Jewish ban on travel during the 24 hours of the Sabbath, beginning on Friday at sunset. President Carter used that time. He met until nearly midnight with the delegations at the White House on Friday. Then, the two sides had met for four hours on Saturday, Mr Sherman said. During those meetings, the two difficult issues dividing the delegations had been resolved. One was the timetable for establishing full diplomatic relations. It had not been specified in the agreements

reached at Camp David. The second was satisfying the Egyptian demand for language in the treaty linking the Egyptian-Israeli peace to solving the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian problems. Egypt had demanded that the words used show the Arab world it was not abandoning the Palestinians. Israel resisted, on the ground that peace with Egypt should not be contingent on any other developments. The eventual result, according to American sources, was a 50-50 compromise. Egypt got something on paper, a loosely worded formulation in the preamble of the treaty. But the link apparently is not tight enough to have prevented Mr Dayan from telling reporters that the treaty stands on its own and is not conditional or depending on any other agreement. If the treaty is signed, it will mark an historic turning point in the 30-year history of Israel, which has never been recognisned by an Arab State or had formal peace with neighbours. It will have both from Egypt. In return, Egypt will regain sovereignty over all of the Sinai territory it lost in the 1967 war. The first, interim Israeli withdrawal is to take place from three to six months after the treaty is signed. Final withdrawal is supposed to come two years to three years later, according to the Camp David framework.