MIDDLE EAST: Clearing the Way for Peace

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The Camp David agreements pass one hurdle, but problems lie ahead

It was a moment of triumph for Premier Menachem Begin, but the struggle had clearly taken some toll of the doughty old Zionist warrior. At 3:33 a.m. last Thursday Knesset Speaker Yitzhak Shamir announced the results of a roll call vote on a resolution approving the Camp David peace accords: 84 yes, 19 no, 17 abstentions. His tie uncharacteristically askew, a jubilant but obviously exhausted Begin embraced Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin and two of his key aides, Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman. Next day Begin—who has a history of heart trouble—was taken to a Jerusalem hospital; doctors reported that he was merely suffering from fatigue.

"This is a historic turning point," Begin had said during the intense 17-hour debate that preceded the vote. Indeed, a collective sigh of relief went up in Cairo and Washington when results of the balloting were known. Of course, obstacles remain, and key problems are unsolved, but the Jerusalem decision cleared the way for the start of Egyptian-Israeli negotiations that may well lead to a peace treaty between these neighboring enemies by Christmas.

Even as the Knesset started its deliberations, direct communications between Jerusalem and Cairo were quietly restored; they had been cut off last July by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat because of his frustration over the then deadlocked peace discussions. This week, at the end of the two-day Jewish New Year celebrations, Israeli negotiators will fly to Cairo to discuss where, when and how the negotiations will be carried out. The Egyptians want to hold them at Ismailia, the Suez Canal town where Begin paid a call on Sadat last December, following Sadat's historic trip to Jerusalem. But the Israelis will insist that some of the discussions be held in Beersheba, capital of the Negev.

While the main outlines of an Egyptian-Israeli treaty were determined at Camp David, misunderstandings over the fine print of the accord could still lead to snags and delays. There could be disputes about the precise lines of the initial Israeli military withdrawal in the Sinai or the exact nature of the "normal relations" that both sides have promised to start up after the treaty is signed. Beyond that there is the question of how the Israeli settlements in the Sinai will be dismantled—a potentially explosive domestic issue for Begin's government (see box). It has been taken for granted that United Nations forces will become available to monitor the new agreement, but that issue has yet to be discussed by the Security Council, where the Soviet Union has a veto.