1.
GV & SV INTERIOR Sinai women at the Arab Socialist Union headquarters in Cairo, one woman dancing and leading singing and slogan-shouting with response from seated women. (2 SHOTS)
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2.
GV & SV Women clapping, singing and chanting. (2 SHOTS)
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3.
GV PAN FROM Buses TO women congregating for march carrying banners.
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4.
GV Banner in Arabic script.
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5.
GV Women marching and shouting.
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6.
SV Women chanting PAN TO show Abdine Palace in background.
1.12

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GV PAN FROM Palace guards TO women demonstrators. (2 SHOTS)
1.23

8.
GV Women chanting PAN TO Palace.
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On Monday (2 October), President Sadat announced that peace talks between Egypt and Israel would start in Washington on 12 October. On the same day as this televised announcement. president Sadat's political opponents in the Middle East, the "Rejectionist Front" states, began to act upon their decision to seek support from the Soviet Union and its allies for their opposition to the Camp David agreement. The Syrian President, Hafez al-Assad arrived in East Germany at the start of a tour of Eastern Europe.




Initials JS/1630



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Egypt, hundreds of women who were displaced form their homes in Sinai by the Middle East wars, held a celebration march through the capital Cairo, on Sunday (1 October). They were demonstrating their support for the recent Camp David peace talks between the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and the Israeli Prime Minister Mr. Menachem Begin.

SYNOPSIS: This parade was the latest in a series of demonstrations of support in Egypt for President Sadat's peace initiative with Israel. It took place before the announcement of the date for the next round of talks between the two Middle East powers, but the women of Sinai appeared to be delighted at the progress already made towards peace. They jubilantly chanted about the possibility of returning to their homes.

The question of the occupation of Sinai along with the other disputed territories of the Golan Heights, Gaza strip and West Bank, has been an obstacle in previous peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel. Now the future of these areas is to be discussed. During the next peace conference, Israeli occupation of the territories is high on the agenda, with the condition that any withdrawal would be carried out under the auspices of the United Nations. There has been adverse reaction from other Arab states to the Camp David accord, but many Egyptians have welcomed the agreement.

While the women chanted slogans of support outside the Abdine Palace, the five members of the Arab Front for Steadfastness and Confrontation: Syria, Algeria, the Libyan Jamahiriyah, Sough Yemen and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, continued to reject the terms of the Camp David agreement.