Word: canallers
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...Soviet-U.S. confrontation. Last week Secretary of State, William Rogers flew into Cairo to make a first-hand assessment of Nasser's successor. Rogers was also interested in exploring one of Sadat's latest initiatives: a proposal for an agreement between Egypt and Israel on reopening the Suez Canal...
...months to put Israel on the diplomatic defensive. First, in a major shift in Arab policy, he announced his willingness to recognize Israel's right to exist in return for the restoration of captured territory. Next, he offered a kind of mini-peace on the issue of the Suez Canal as a way of getting that waterway into operation again and, more important, of getting Israeli troops off its east bank...
Israel, which has never been allowed to send a ship through the canal, was wary. For one thing, the Israelis consider the waterway an ideal tank ditch against any Egyptian cross-canal movements. The farthest that Israeli troops would probably withdraw from the Bar-Lev Line would be to an area from which they could see or hear Egyptian or Russian troops crossing the canal in strength. Israel indicated last week that it would also oppose the rebuilding of bridges over the canal. Moreover, Israel insisted that it would consider a Suez settlement as a separate agreement...
...sides, Rogers noted barely perceptible signs of give. The Egyptians indicated that the military force on the east bank need not be terribly large. In a second, two-hour-and-50-minute discussion with Mrs. Meir, Rogers was told that Israel might not object if nonmilitary Egyptians crossed the canal; there were hints that policemen might be considered nonmilitary. The question, of course, was whether Cairo would accept such a limitation on its sovereignty. By week's end, when he headed for Rome and then home, Rogers was sufficiently encouraged to announce that he was sending Sisco back to Cairo...
Rogers hopes to get the two sides thinking this week about the practical problems in reopening Suez. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat has two meetings scheduled with Rogers, and will probably spend both trying to persuade the Secretary to pressure Israel into agreeing to a withdrawal from the canal's vicinity. The way to do this, in Egypt's view, is to withhold further U.S. arms...