ISRAELIS RETURN LAST OF CAPTURED LAND TO EGYPT

March 16, 1989

Israel handed back the Red Sea beach resort of Taba to Egypt yesterday, after international arbitration ended a seven-year border dispute. The move completed Israel's withdrawal from Egyptian territory captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Israeli officials said the pullout removed the last obstacle to warming relations between Israel and Egypt. But Egyptian officials forecast no major improvement until Israel moved on the Palestinian problem.