Israeli Govt under pressure

Press, 3 December 1987, Page 10

Israeli Govt under pressure

NZPA-Reuter Jerusalem The Israeli Government was under pressure from Right-wing legislators yesterday to examine "deteriorating relations” with Egypt after a border attack by suspected Palestinian guerrillas. In the first incident on the Egyptian frontier since Israel returned the Sinai peninsula in 1982 under their peace treaty, grenades were hurled and machine-guns fired from the Egyptian side at an Israeli patrol. One soldier was slightly wounded. “I must say I am very, very disappointed,” said Sarah Doron, chairwoman of the Likud caucus of the Prime Minister, Mr Yitzhak Shamir. "We paid a very big price for the 1979 Camp David agreements and I

don’t know if the results justified our great sacrifices.” A Likud Parliamentarian, Michael Eitan, urged the Government to convene an urgent meeting to discuss “the deteriorating relations with Egypt," State radio said. As part of the peace treaty, Israel handed back to Egypt the Sinai peninsula it captured in the 1.967 Middle-East war, giving up military bases, settlements and oil wells. Egypt is the only one of Israel’s neighbours to have signed a peace pact with the Jewish State. The Israeli Army still routinely patrols the border. •:> An Army spokeswoman said the attackers were probably “terrorists” — the usual Israeli term for Palestinian guerrillas.