The Summit: Peeks Behind the Scenes

It scarcely seemed like a meeting of two countries still technically at war when Egypt's Anwar Sadat welcomed Israel's Menachem Begin to Ismailia last week. First the Israeli Premier was flattered by being invited to witness a purely internal Egyptian matter--Mohamed Ibrahim Kamel taking the oath as Egypt's new Foreign Minister. Then Sadat led his guest to a tiny room for a private chat, and the hearty laughter of the Egyptian leader rang through the heavy doors. This cordiality, reports TIME Correspondent David Halevy, who talked with some of those present, characterized most of the summit sessions. Vignettes from Ismailia:

After everyone was seated in the conference room, Sadat suddenly clapped his hands twice and shouted: "Ahwa, shay"--coffee, tea. A pair of waiters carrying trays of tea and Turkish coffee came hurriedly into the room and served the delegates. Reaching for a glass of green shay, Sadat recalled: "I drank very good tea in Jerusalem." The Israelis never ceased being startled throughout the conference by the Egyptian President's hand clapping.

With ahwa and shay served, Sadat raised his glass and declared: "This is a happy day in my life, to have you seated here, facing us in Ismailia and discussing substance and not procedure." When he expressed his pleasure at having the conference "close to the place where Moses crossed the sea," Begin quipped: "It took Moses 40 years to cross the desert on his way to the Promised Land, while it took us only 40 minutes to cross it."

A few moments later, Begin announced that "today is President Sadat's [59th] birthday. Let me congratulate you, and may God give you many years to live until 120." Sadat looked puzzled, so Begin explained that "until 120" was a traditional Jewish blessing for long life.* Begin was effusive in his praise of his host. "We all have deep admiration for you and your leadership," he exclaimed. "We all need you and your leadership. Egypt needs you; the Middle East needs you; the world needs you; and even we need you."

After Begin presented the Israeli proposals for Sinai, the West Bank and Gaza, the Egyptian looked at his watch and announced: "I think we worked hard today. Let us take a break before lunch and make a small trip." Even the drivers and bodyguards had been given no warning of this excursion and had to scramble to their cars. Sadat ushered Begin into the front seat of a Cadillac and asked Israeli Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan to climb into the back. To everyone's surprise, Sadat got behind the steering wheel.

As they rode off with security forces in hot pursuit, Weizman remarked that he had never been personally driven by a head of state, and Begin mentioned he had never even bothered to learn to drive. Said Sadat: "It is a lot of fun, and I enjoy it very much." After sightseeing for a few minutes on Timsah Island, Sadat and his guests returned to Ismailia for lunch.

At Sadat's villa during the more than two-hour meal (mushroom salad, stuffed vine leaves, veal, pastry and orange juice), the Egyptians and Israelis traded small talk and repeatedly congratulated Sadat on his birthday. Midway through the lunch, an excited aide rushed to Sadat, informing him that President Carter was on the telephone. Begin and his host hurried to the conference room, where Sadat picked up the phone. "Hello? Hello?" he said. No answer. "Hello! Hello!" The line was dead. Sadat looked at Begin, shrugged his shoulders and explained helplessly: "No Carter." Both men laughed and returned to lunch. White House aides later telephoned Egyptian officials in Cairo, conveying Carter's "best wishes" to Sadat and Begin.

Sadat's only diplomatic gaffe seems to have been his inability to get Ezer Weizman's name right. The Egyptian constantly referred to "my friend Ezra," repeating a mistake he had made with the Defense Minister's first name during the November visit to Jerusalem. Says one of Weizman's colleagues: "Ezer has only one choice. If he wants to continue negotiating with Sadat, he has to change his name."

At one point the Egyptians were treated to one of Begin's famous history lectures. Defending his refusal to grant full sovereignty to the West Bank and Gaza, Begin asked: "With your permission, Mr. President, I would like to tell you some of our history." For the next half an hour, Begin recited the highlights of Jewish development. When he came to the Holocaust, he reminded Sadat that "you saw it with your own eyes in Jerusalem when you visited Yad Vashem [the memorial to the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis]." Recalling bitterly that the Arab League had ordered an attack against the newly established Israel in 1948, Begin said movingly: "We lost 1% of our total population during that war." To justify Israel's pre-emptive strike against Egypt in 1967, he charged: "You talked then about throwing us into the sea."

The Egyptians listened patiently, but when Begin asked Weizman to explain the causes of the 1967 war, Sadat jumped up and declared: "No! No! Let's not start that again. All of this history, moreover, happened before the 19th of November." That baffled Begin. "What happened on November 19, 1967?" he asked. It was explained that Sadat was referring to November 1977 and his trip to Jerusalem.

For only a few moments during all the negotiation did the mood turn testy. Responding to Israel's proposals for Sinai, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Aide Osama el-Baz rose and protested angrily that "with a country of 7,000 years' history, you cannot discuss questions of boundaries. This in itself is an insult." Sadat quickly stepped in: "All right. All right. We can discuss everything, even boundaries, as a civilized people. There is no need to become nasty."

* From Genesis VI: 3: "My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years."

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