Back to Shuttle Diplomacy

For the major figures involved in the Middle East peace effort, there was no apparent fuel shortage last week--at least for jets. First, Foreign Ministers Ismail Fahmy of Egypt and Omar Saqqaf of Saudi Arabia flew to Washington to confer with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Four days later, Kissinger dropped in on Mexico City for a conference of Latin American foreign ministers, where he called for "a new era of interdependence" in the hemisphere. At week's end Kissinger was to return to Washington for a day or so before flying once again to the Middle East for another round of "shuttle diplomacy" --this time to Damascus, Jerusalem and Cairo, where he is expected to announce resumption of full diplomatic relations between Egypt and the U.S.

Amazing Precision. Meanwhile, most of the Arab chiefs of state were in Lahore, Pakistan, for a three-day summit of Islamic-nation leaders. Despite the religious auspices of the meeting, one of the principal topics would clearly be what happens next on the peace negotiations. As the conference got under way late last week, it could already claim one major achievement: Pakistan officially recognized Bangladesh, its former eastern wing, which broke away in 1971.

Kissinger is plainly worried that the progress toward peace in the Middle East could lose momentum. On at least one of the fronts, though, advances are still being made. The Egyptian-Israeli disengagement worked out by Kissinger last month has proceeded with a precision that amazes veteran U.N. observers, accustomed to tiresome hassles in carrying out international agreements.

Last week the remaining units of Israel's invasion force withdrew from the West Bank of the Suez Canal. Emblazoned with signs saying GOODBYE AFRICA, HELLO TEL AVIV, tanks, halftracks and packed buses rumbled in a dusty parade across the last causeway, which is being left intact for the Egyptians. One group of paratroopers dived into the canal and swam across. "That is the way we came, and that is the way we are going back," said a half-naked soldier to newsmen.

Under the next and final phase of the withdrawal agreement, which is scheduled to be completed by March 5, the Israelis will pull back from the canal entirely, and a thinly manned line of Egyptians will secure the East Bank, thereby retaining for Cairo territory that it last controlled in 1967. In expectation of that symbolic gain, Egypt's President Anwar Sadat last week nailed the outcome of the war as "the first genuine Arab victory in the past 500 years." At President Sadat's side, significantly, was Libya's maverick strongman Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who had gone to Cairo to make a surprising public apology for having criticized Egypt's conduct of the war and its subsequent negotiations with Israel.

Until now, there has been no movement toward Israeli-Syrian disengagement. Israel has insisted that Syria make available a list of Israeli prisoners of war before negotiations begin--something Syria has adamantly refused to do until it gets an assurance that the Israelis will withdraw from Syrian land. But Egypt's Fahmy and Saudi Arabia's Saqqaf reportedly took to Washington an Arab proposal for disengagement along the Golan Heights. The terms of the proposal were not made public, but it was assumed that Syria had agreed to turn over the P.O.W. list.

Kissinger very much needs a diplomatic breakthrough on the Golan Heights disengagement; otherwise, his fragile design for a Middle East settlement may fall apart. The problem is not made significantly easier by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir's difficulties in putting together a viable government (see following story). "Let's face it," said an Israeli foreign ministry official last week, "we do not have very much to gain from a withdrawal on the Syrian front." While Jerusalem has, in fact, indicated some willingness to compromise on territory that Israel captured in October, it has vowed not to surrender any of the areas occupied during the 1967 war. Recent plans, in fact, call for doubling Israeli settlements on the Heights.

Syrian President Hafez Assad last week reiterated his government's determination to recover all of its occupied territory. As reported by the Beirut daily Al Bayraq, he offered to repatriate the P.O.W.s "if Israel fulfills the Geneva Convention" and allows the repatriation of 170,000 refugees to the Golan Heights--meaning all of the Syrians who have had to leave their homes since the 1967 war. Assad further declared that Syria was committed to regaining the Heights "even if we fight 100 wars."

American Promises. Still, the pressures on both sides to come to an understanding are great. The U.S. is anxious to end the Arab oil embargo and needs Israel's cooperation. The Arabs have not yet laid down specific conditions for such a move, but Foreign Minister Saqqaf remarked in Washington last week: "Once we see that intentions are good, the embargo might be lifted."

In fact, leaders of the oil-producing nations meeting at Lahore are expected to recommend to next month's session of the O.A.P.E.C. (Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries) that the ban on exports to the U.S. be lifted.

If that happens, much of the credit will belong to Sadat. He has unmistakably indicated that he wants a peace settlement, but he has also served notice that Egypt will not return to the Geneva talks without Syria. As one source close to the Egyptian President put it, "Sadat is trying to commit the U.S. not with threats and pressure, but by accepting fully American promises. That puts a heavy responsibility on the American government."

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