It's Menachem and Anwar

A personal friendship blossoms despite political disagreements

In sun-washed Alexandria on the shores of the Mediterranean, Egyptian and Israeli flags snapped crisply in the sea breeze last week. Israel's Premier Menachem Begin and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat were in town for their fourth summit meeting since last March. The main thoroughfares of Egypt's second largest city (estimated pop. 2.5 million) were lined with smartly dressed "tourist police" in white uniforms, who were trying in vain to give some semblance of order to Alexandria's jumbled traffic. They also stood guard in front of the yellow stucco Al Safa palace, where Begin was staying, Sadat's summer home at Mamura, and the ornate Ras el Tin palace, where some of the talks were held. As expected, there were no breakthroughs in the two-day summit. But the mood of the leaders, who had spent nearly three hours together in intense private conversations, suggested that they were satisfied that the peace process was still on target.

At a joint press conference, Begin and Sadat were generally circumspect in their remarks about the summit. On one issue, at least, they saw eye to eye: the territorial integrity of Lebanon. Egypt has protested Israel's current policy of making pre-emptive strikes against suspected Palestinian targets in Lebanon and supporting secessionist right-wing Christians in the southern part of the country. "We are for the full integrity of Lebanon," Sadat said, "and we shall never agree to anything that causes disintegration." Begin asserted Israel's right to defend itself from guerrilla attacks launched from Lebanon, but then seemed to concede an important point to the Egyptians. Said he: "I share unequivocally the opinion of the President that the integrity of Lebanon [should] be preserved."

On the seemingly intractable issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, however, the two sides are far apart. Sadat apparently did not press Begin for a freeze on new settlements. "We are free men," Begin told reporters at their press conference. "We can agree. We can disagree. On this issue, we agree to differ." The two men also are far from agreement on the meaning of autonomy for Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza. Sadat declared that his talks with Begin on the subject were among "the most important" he had during the summit, but refused to disclose any details. "For me," he said vaguely, "the progress is sufficient."

For the first time, Begin and Sadat chose to hold all of their sessions in private, with no aides present. Apparently the two leaders concentrated on the broader issues of Middle East politics and how they might deal jointly with sudden crises. The private sessions underscored the personal friendship that has suddenly and surprisingly blossomed between the leaders. Sadat was the one who sought to break through the formality. During the talks he said to Begin: "It's time we called each other by our first names." A bit startled, Begin replied, "But Mr. President, I am only a Prime Minister and you are a President. I suggest you call me Menachem and I call you Mr. President." Sadat, however, persisted: "Really, Menachem," he said, "it won't work this way. You must call me Anwar." From that point on, they chatted on a first-name basis.

The Israeli leader was obviously delighted by the warm reception accorded him in Alexandria Soon after his arrival he went to pray at the city's venerable Eliahu Hanabi Synagogue; it is the main center of worship for Alexandria's 200 or so-member Jewish community, which before the Arab-Israeli wars had numbered 40,000. Emerging from the synagogue, he was met by a throng of cheering Egyptians. To the horror of his security officials, Begin got out of his limousine to shake a few hands. Obviously moved, he later told Sadat: "I saw today the reality of peace."

One bond of unity between Begin and Sadat, who will meet again in Haifa next month, is that both men feel a sense of isolation as they seek to extend the perimeters of peace. Begin's government is mildly worried because a number of influential American Jews have questioned the timing, if not the legality, of the West Bank settlements (see box).

Equally disconcerting was a recommendation by the State Department that the U.S. should sell an additional $1.2 billion in military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which has now become the world's biggest customer for American military supplies. The latest arms deal will provide the Saudis' paramilitary national guard with armored vehicles, howitzers, machine guns and other infantry equipment. The sale, which requires presidential and congressional approval, came within a week of the Saudi decision to increase its daily oil production for the next three to six months by a reported one million bbls. to a total of 9.5 million, enough to ease substantially the current world shortage. U.S. officials denied that there was any link between the military sales and the Saudis' decision to raise their crude production, even though there appears to be a growing rapprochement between Washington and Riyadh after months of strained relations.

Last week the Israelis were outraged when Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, was received in Vienna by Chancellor Bruno Kreisky with a welcome almost befitting a head of state. Israel recalled its ambassador from Vienna, and Begin left no doubt that he felt Kreisky was a Jewish traitor. The Austrian Chancellor said that he and former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, who also joined the talks, had "gained the impression" that the P.L.O. "no longer insisted on the destruction of Israel." Arafat, however, gave no sign that the P.L.O. was backing down on the Middle East peace accords, which he had earlier denounced as "a war pact engineered by the imperialist U.S."

The campaign to ostracize Egypt within the Arab world also stepped up. Last Friday four terrorists, led by what one bystander called a "tall, blond and tough-looking Palestinian," stormed their way into the Egyptian embassy in Ankara, firing automatic weapons. They seized 20 hostages, including Ambassador Ahmed Kamal Olama and his son. The terrorists demanded that Turkey sever its relations with Egypt and Israel, release two Palestinian prisoners in Egypt and provide a flight to a friendly Arab country. The gunmen, reported to belong to the Revolutionary Eagles of Palestine, part of a Syrian-backed faction of the P.L.O., threatened to blow up the building unless their demands were met. Two Turkish guards were killed and one Egyptian hostage died trying to escape. Heavily-armed Turkish troops took up positions around the building. Then several Palestinian guerrillas were flown in from Damascus to try to bring an end to the siege. After negotiating with them, the raiders on Sunday morning released their remaining hostages. The four terrorists themselves marched out of the embassy flashing "V" for victory signs and were turned over to Turkish police.

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