"Here We Are, Leaving Egypt"

As Israeli troops began to withdraw from the western bank of the Suez Canal last week, TIME Correspondent Marlin Levin made a final tour of the area just before Israeli officials banned newsmen from watching the disengagements. His report:

The muddy blue and white Tel Aviv bus, with its sign, "In military service," halted near Suez city, 85 miles east of Cairo. This was the last stop before the Egyptian-Israeli cease-fire line 13 miles farther south. The ginger-haired civilian driver opened the door alongside a platoon of soldiers waiting by their halftracks at the edge of the road. "This line is closing down," he said happily. "See you in Tel Aviv." The soldiers cheered and clapped their hands. They were getting out.

The Israelis reached Suez city in the third week of the war. They dug in south of the city and set up observation posts on a 600-ft. peak of the Ataka range. From there they surveyed and controlled the entire Bay of Suez area. Since the war ended there have been occasional artillery and armor skirmishes. In the past two weeks, however, when it became apparent that the Israelis would be leaving, the shooting stopped and both sides went fishing.

"The Arabs used dynamite to kill the fish and scared most of them away," complained a young Israeli lieutenant. "But eventually they came back, and we got them with lines and nets." As he packed his bags he added somewhat wistfully, "They were the best fish I have ever eaten."

Most of the noncoms and privates were reservists and glad to be done with war. "We may have to come back," said an Iraqi-born elevator technician from Jaffa who had been serving as a mortarman, "but in the meantime I want to live a little." Added a Tel Aviv housepainter: "We can manage out here at the front all right, but we have problems at home. My business has gone to hell, I've got debts up to my neck, and the pay they give you for reserve service ($190 a month) doesn't cover everything when you've got three kids and a pregnant wife." Said a bank clerk from Haifa: "You can't depend on the Arabs, but we've had war, war, war It's been that way since Moses left Egypt. And here we are, leaving Egypt again."

The wharf was quiet and empty, occupied by gulls. An Egyptian cargo ship, that had been unloading cement when war overtook the port, was still surrounded by bags of cement, opened and untouched. A smaller ship lay sunk near by, its coffee cargo ruined. One of eight cranes had been hit by a shell, but the others were undamaged. The Israelis have promised that they will not touch any of the civilian equipment before withdrawing.

Military goods are a completely different matter. At one point along the road, smoke rolled up from an abandoned barracks that had been put to the torch by the Israelis. "This is nothing," said an officer, "come back next week and then you won't be able to see the sky for all the smoke."

At the Suez Canal I crossed a causeway that had been built by the Israelis to last a long time. In the approaching dusk, mammoth 26-wheel trailer trucks fully loaded with war booty, including Russian tanks, field guns, portable bridges and ammunition, continued a 24-hour eastward movement. At the edge of the causeway, soldiers alighted from their buses. Nearly all of them had cameras, and they paused to take pictures. "It's the last thing they do before they leave Africa," explained a bus driver. Finally someone shouted, "Home, fellas!" All ran for the blue and white buses.

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