Summit in Rabat

Tunisia's Habib Bourguiba was genuinely ill with infectious hepatitis, Iraq's Hassan Bakr appeared to have a diplomatic ailment, and Syria's Noureddine Atassi simply stayed home. But every other leader of the Arab League nations, as well as Guerrilla Leader Yasser Arafat, at week's end converged on Rabat for the first Arab summit in two years. The dominant figure, of course, was Gamal Abdel Nasser. The principal aim of the Egyptian President was to try once again to unite the divided Arabs in order to exert increased pressure on Israel.

The difficulty of such an assignment was immediately evident. Half an hour before the scheduled time of the opening session, the proceedings were abruptly postponed for one day. Arab officials explained that some of the leaders were tired and needed rest. The more plausible explanation was that they wanted time to thresh out in private conferences the agenda for the summit. Much of the discussion probably centered on demands by Arafat and Nasser for more support and solidarity. Arafat, who arrived aboard Nasser's plane, wants more money for his guerrillas and a straightforward declaration of support from every Arab League member. Nasser himself hopes to secure an increase in the annual subsidies that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Libya pay out of oil royalties to support their embattled brothers. The payments presently amount to $358 million, and before the summit Saudi Arabia and Kuwait demurred at any increase in their donations.

The halls of the Rabat Hilton echoed with the usual anti-Israel sentiments. But discussions were tempered somewhat by the course of outside events. Nasser recently sent a delegation to Moscow seeking increased arms shipments. The Egyptians also sought a vigorous nyet to recent U.S. peace proposals, which include, among other things, Israeli withdrawal from Sinai in return for a negotiated peace settlement with the Egyptians. The delegation came home bearing a message from Premier Aleksei Kosygin saying that Moscow still hopes for a political settlement of the Middle East crisis. Until the Soviets change their minds, which seems highly improbable, Arab cries for another round of fighting against Israel are likely to remain only a hollow threat.

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