Four Wise Men

Coping with a single chief of state is enough to make protocol officials nervous. Thus there was more than a little Israeli concern last week when four self-styled "Messengers of Peace"--Senegal's Poet-President Leopold Senghor, Cameroun's President Ahmadou Ahidjo, Nigeria's Chief of State Yakubu Gowon, and the Zaire Republic's President Joseph Mobutu--flew almost simultaneously into Lod International Airport outside Tel Aviv. They had been dispatched by the Organization of African Unity to help bring peace between Arabs and Israelis "by means of a dialogue," as Senghor put it.

Prime Minister Golda Meir gamely went through two elaborate welcoming ceremonies--the second one for Mobutu, who landed an hour after the other three in a DC-8 whose fuselage bore the freshly painted words Air Zai're to denote that he had changed the name of his country from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Zai're Republic a week earlier. The same name change compelled the Israeli Foreign Ministry to revise all its programs and invitations. All told, it was a trying time for the ministry; when it ordered 400 flags, 100 for each country, they were almost delivered late because the flag-maker's wife gave birth to Israel's first quintuplets. At Jerusalem's King David Hotel, where the Africans took over 82 rooms, flowers in the national colors of each state were sent to the presidential suites, and breakfasts were served at 3:30 a.m. for Ahidjo and other Moslems in the group because they were observing the holy month of Ramadan, which requires fasting during daylight. Mrs. Meir, for the first time in Israel's history, ordered the entire Cabinet to abandon its sports-shirt informality and don black ties for a dinner in the visitors' honor.

The Africans were deeply serious about their mission. Last summer, the O.A.U. passed a resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from all the occupied territories and appointed a committee of ten "wise men" to study the Egyptian-Israeli conflict and return with recommendations. The ten, in turn, dispatched the four-man mission on the first incursion of African diplomacy into the tangled Middle East. On arrival, Senghor spoke of the Africans, Arabs and Jews as "a trilogy of suffering peoples," and added: "We have a message of humanity to transmit to the world."

At four business sessions with the Prime Minister and her advisers, the Africans probed the basic issues of the conflict. "Most of the countries of black Africa maintain friendly relations with Israel and the Arab states," said Senghor. "When you have friends who are fighting each other, it is incumbent upon you to build bridges between them and to pacify them. I believe that the Africans have a better chance to succeed in this than the Americans or the Russians."

Shepheard's Lights. The Africans tentatively proposed that the conflict could best be solved by a dialogue between the Arabs and Israelis under United Nations auspices. Before departing for similar meetings in Cairo, the Africans promised to keep their diplomatic initiative going with a return visit to Jerusalem this month. The Israelis were pessimistic about what the four wise men could accomplish. But, as a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "Look what a Ping Pong match did in China."

In Cairo, the Africans found the streets gaily lit for Ramadan, and few signs of the blackout that has been imposed periodically since the Six-Day War. Last week, for the first time since 1967, the Egyptian football league resumed regular matches, and the neon sign atop the Nileside Shepheard's Hotel flickered out over the water. The Egyptians had been moderately heartened by Senghor's call for "full implementation" of the 1967 United Nations Security Council resolution that called for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories (so were the Israelis, since the resolution affirmed their "right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries"). Sadat escorted his visitors to the Nile Hilton, their motorcade making its way through a Cairo sandstorm, then settled in for three days of talks. The Egyptians were no more optimistic than the Israelis had been. "We have no illusions of a breakthrough resulting from all this," said an Egyptian editor.

Calendar Watching. Nonetheless, Sadat had good diplomatic reasons to welcome the Africans' intervention, if only to focus attention on the continued Israeli occupation of Egyptian territory. Last July Sadat proclaimed 1971 the "year of decision," and promised Egyptians that they would not have to bear the frustration of "no war and no peace" beyond the end of the year. Last week, with his self-imposed deadline fast approaching, Sadat announced that he was taking over personal command of the army. The Israelis doubt that he will do anything drastic, however, before the U.S. diplomatic initiative aimed at an interim agreement on reopening the Suez Canal runs its course. As Cairo wags put it last week, "This may be the year of decision, but Sadat has decreed that 1971 will last at least 18 months."

In effect, both sides are watching the calendar. One evident reason why Sadat proclaimed 1971 the year of decision is that 1972 is the year of a U.S. presidential election--a time when Washington's policy traditionally swings toward Israel. For the same reason, the Israeli government feels no sense of urgency about reaching an agreement on the Suez Canal this fall. Moreover, with the campaign approaching, the Israelis are trying to pry a fresh supply of Phantom jets out of Washington. Last week Mrs. Meir made it clear to U.S. Ambassador Walworth Barbour that unless Israel gets the planes, it will reject the latest American proposals calling for indirect negotiations between Arabs and Israelis in New York, with Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco acting as go-between. The Israeli case was given something of an assist by none other than the Soviets. Two Mach 3 MIG-23s --code-named "Foxbat" by NATO and manned only by Russian pilots--flew over the Israeli-held Sinai, to a depth of 60 miles. The Israelis scrambled to meet the intruders, but even their fastest plane, the Mach 2 Phantom, was not able to catch them.

-From left: Nigeria's Gowon, Cameroun's Ahidjo, Senegal's Senghor, Israeli President Zalman Shazar and Prime Minister Meir.

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