So Near, Yet So Far

As jubilant delegations dashed between Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo last week, the Arab world was awash with joy. Crowds swarmed in the streets chanting the slogan, "Unity. Freedom, Socialism!" In Cairo and Damascus, mobs shouted. "Nasser! Nasser! Union tomorrow!" Iraq's Deputy Premier Ali Saleh Saadi cried. "The Arab world will now certainly unite. This is an old aspiration. What is new is that it has now become possible."

Double Path. The urge to merge brought Syrian and Iraqi leaders flying to Cairo for 15 hours of talks with Egypt's President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the chief beneficiary of the downfall of anti-Nasser regimes in Iraq and Syria. But Nasser had contributed little to the victories that were actually won in both countries by a coalition of Nasserite army officers and politicians of the Baath (Renaissance) Party, which has long promoted the ideal of Wahadi Arabiya (Arab oneness).

Though both groups have the same goal of unity, each proposes a separate path. Nasser believes in centralized, authoritarian control. The Baath Party favors "collective leadership" and a democratic parliamentary government. As the talks proceeded, Syria's Deputy Premier Nihad El-Kassem reportedly forced the Baathists in his delegation to accept the Nasserite proposals on a threat of resigning from office.

Total Adherence. The conferees were reported "in close agreement" on a planned union that indicated compromises were being made by both sides. If accepted by individual plebiscites, the union would create a single Arab state of 39 million people with an area as flat as Texas and more than twice its size, and an economy based on the oil of Iraq, the agriculture of Syria, and the industry and cotton of Egypt. The agreement calls for a single political head (almost certain to be Nasser) and a central parliament based on population, which would give Egypt a two-thirds majority.

This central state would be responsible for 1) defense and foreign policy, 2) a socialist economic framework, and 3) unified educational and cultural programs. But within the union, each state would have its own elected popular authority and its own parliament. Not represented in the Cairo talks was primitive Yemen, whose boss, Abdullah Sallal, is propped up by 20,000 Egyptian soldiers, but Sallal cabled Cairo announcing his total adherence to whatever is decided. But at week's end, the reported "close agreement" had apparently run into a snag. The three-power talks unexpectedly broke up and, according to a communique, will resume "in a few days."

While trying, at least, to unite verbally in Cairo. Iraq and Syria were still busy last week consolidating their revolutions at home. Iraq, which has already executed 25 local Communist leaders, condemned to death another 51. In feeble retaliation, the Soviet Union created a small riot in

Moscow, where a crowd of several hundred students (including some from Arab countries) was permitted to break windows and throw ink bottles at the Iraqi embassy. The new Baghdad regime also finally 'settled the 18-month Kurdish rebellion by reaching basic agreement with Kurdish Leader Mustafa Barzani on terms of 1) amnesty for all rebels, 2) release of 2.000 Iraqi soldiers captured in battle, and 3) autonomy for the nation's 1,500,000 Kurds. In Syria, tanks and armored cars were at last withdrawn from Damascus streets although patrols of steel-helmeted troops still remained. Reportedly, about 1,000 prisoners jammed the jails, including 80 local Communists.

Single Floor. Arab nations have often combined before--on paper--without preventing the individual states from going their own anarchic way. A single military command was agreed upon as long ago as 1951 but never implemented. The new union may eventually prove to be little more than another exercise in rhetoric, but last week the news of its formation sent a thrill of excitement through pro-Nasser elements in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, the two remaining Arab states whose leaders are vocally anti-Nasser.

Some people in the Arab world predict that revolt will strike Jordan within a few weeks, and Saudi Arabia in a matter of months. Jordan's young King Hussein, determined to nip any plot in the bud, spent last week inspecting his Jordanian troops and was greeted with cheers. Jordan's imprisoned Baathist leader, Rifat Audeh, broke jail but was quickly recaptured.

In Saudi Arabia, Premier Prince Feisal completed an unprecedented speechmaking swing around the nation and -.announced that 9,000 men had volunteered for his new national guard. King Saud, however, played into the hands of the monarchy's critics when he proposed continuing his extravagant four-month convalescence (from heart and political failures) by moving from Switzerland to the French Riviera. For this week, Saud has made reservations at Nice's Hotel Negresco for himself and 130 relatives and retainers, who will occupy all 50 rooms on a single floor, with a special elevator reserved for his personal use.

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