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IN CA/RO,
Dr. Abdui-Kader Hatem, clase sdviser to President Sadat, introduces Mr.
Armstrong for an address s t the Ni/e Hilton befare the Egyptian-American Friendship
Association. More than three hundred lesding Egyptisns were present.
his presttgtous credibility in the
Arab world outside Egypt. The
headquarters of the Arab League
was moved from Cairo to Tunis.
But President Sadat risked
more than that. Egypt had been
receiving mil itary aid and mili–
tary training for his army from
the Soviet Union. Once the
Soviet gains a foothold in any
nation, they conti nue pressing on
toward total domination, unless
pushed back by superior force (of
which there is none). Yet Anwar
Sadat had the guts to reject fur–
ther Soviet aid, and order their
military officers and instructors
out of Egypt! It left Egypt with
only one possible nationaJ ally–
the United States!
Still further, he was the only
Arab leader in the Moslem world
who had the kindheartedness and
courage to let the Shah of Iran
die in peace under his protec–
tion!
The fifth of this chain of events
was the Camp David talks, bring–
ing President J immy Carter and
the United States directly into
this chain of events, preliminary
to world peace. The United States
President used his office to bring
the two Midd le East leaders
together in a very tough effort
toward Middle East peace. The
40
leaders were faced with no easy
task, in a world dedicated to the
incentive of "GET" instead of
"GIVE"- of war instead of
peace.
The sixth of these seven events
occurred when Prime Minister
Begin and Israel "GAVE" back to
Egypt large portions of the Sinai
península. Of course it sti ll left to
try to work out the tough ques–
tions of the West Bank, the vio–
lent PLO demands for a new sep–
arate Arab state, and the Gaza
strip. Nevertheless thi s was
another step in the d irection of
"GIVE."
Finally, the seventh of these
events, President Sadat's planned
PEACE CENTER at the foot of
Mount Sinai. Both the center,
and its Mount Sinai location are
dually symbol ic of PEACE. l 'm
honored to have a part in it.
This brings us to my most
recent visit to the Middle East.
On the day before the United
States' national presidential elec–
tion, November 4, 1980,
1
had a
conference in his J erusalem office
with Prime Minister Menachem
Begin . With me, as usual was Mr.
Stanley Rader. Also with us was
the mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy
Kollek. Also our own TV camera
crew.
Mr. Begin had been in a meet–
ing with government officials in
Tel Aviv. He interrupted that
meeting, giving it a two and one–
half hour recess to drive one hour
to Jerusalem for this meeting,
and then to return to the meeting
in Tel Aviv.
When we ar rived at the recep–
tion office outside Mr. Begin's
office, they told us we would not
be able to see M r. Begin- he was
out of the city. lmagine their sur–
prise when they saw him walk in
for a warm handshake with us!
Inside his office
1
apologized
~
for having caused the interrup–
if
tion in the Tel Aviv meeting, and
&:
he replied, " Mr. Armstrong, l
would get out of bed at two in the
morning to see you, if neces–
sary!"
We had a most enjoyable meet–
ing, which seemed to reflecta spirit
of love. Weasked Mr. Begin forany
statement he would like to make to
the American people. This will
appear in a later issue of
The Plain
Truth.
Our meeting ended in a bear
hug, and his smil ing approval for
having bis picture appear with Mr.
Sadat on the front cover of this
issue.
Mount Sinal Peace Center
Eight days later carne the meet–
ing with President Sadat at the
Gaza Residential Palace in Cai–
ro.
Mr. Sadat was giving an
address on national television at a
Teachers' Association graduation
ceremony. Mr. Stanley Rader,
and Mr. Osamu Gotoh and 1 were
fi rst driven to the building where
the ceremony was being held in
an auditorium on the ground
floor.
lt
was a large office build–
ing of sorne twelve stories. We
three were taken to a top story
reception room adj acent to an
executive office. There we viewed
on television the presiden t 's
speech and the ceremony below.
As it was about to close, we
were escorted down to a waiting
car in a large parking way in front
of the building. In front of our
car was a CadiUac ambulance,
immediately behind the presi-
The
PLAIN TRUTH