Now, Round 5 of Shuttle Diplomacy

Scarcely two months have passed since Henry Kissinger paid his fourth postwar visit to the Middle East. Yet this week as the Secretary of State--accompanied by Bride Nancy Maginnes Kissinger--arrives for a fifth visit, he will find enough great changes to astound even a normally unflappable diplomat. Among the transitions since March:

>In Egypt, where only seven years ago Gamal Abdel Nasser unleashed virulent anti-Americanism by falsely charging that U.S. planes had wiped out his air force, the U.S. helicopter carrier Iwo Jima placidly anchored off Port Said to begin the minesweeping of the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, the Egyptian government prepared two former palaces of King Farouk for a possible state visit by President Nixon as early as some time in May.

> In Washington, for the first time in 18 years, a U.S. aid bill included economic grants for Egypt. There was also a $100 million contingency fund, which Administration sources indicated might be used to help Syria if Kissinger's talks are successful. Provided Congress approves President Nixon's requests, U.S. aid to Arab nations could amount to half a billion dollars, along with $350 million for Israel, in the fiscal year that begins this July.

> In Damascus, where Americans have been officially non grata since 1967, a U.S. special diplomatic mission was operating quietly, and U.S. businessmen jostled Japanese and European competitors for contracts.

> In Israel, where former Ambassador to the U.S. Yitzhak Rabin was chosen as Premier-designate to succeed Golda Meir, officials spoke apprehensively of what they referred to as Washington's "loving honeymoon with the Arabs." Said one: "What the Americans are doing is not cutting into our flesh; it's just scratching our skin a bit. It has not cost us anything so far. When it does, then we will start screaming." The screaming would presumably start if the U.S. began supplying Egypt with weapons now that Cairo has said it would no longer wholly depend on the Soviet Union for arms.

For all the promise of U.S. accommodation with the Arabs, there were plenty of pitfalls to make Kissinger cautious about what he could accomplish on a trip to settle Israeli-Syrian disengagement. It was to commence in Geneva with a conference with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko and then take the Secretary to Algiers, Cairo, Kuwait, Damascus and Jerusalem. Obstructions anywhere along the way could threaten Kissinger's success.

The greatest immediate danger was the war of attrition around Mount Hermon. For the seventh consecutive week, Israeli and Syrian gunners shelled one another, and Israel claimed that its jets destroyed Syrian tanks and a radar station along the mountain. Israeli President Ephraim Katzir, on an Independence Day visit to his soldiers, narrowly escaped a Syrian artillery barrage that was aimed at Israel's positions.

Bountiful Supply. The Syrians were being encouraged in the fighting by Moscow, which insists on participating in any new peace discussions. Syria's President Hafez Assad had returned from a visit to Moscow in an optimistic mood; the Russians apparently promised him a bountiful supply of arms. TIME Correspondent William Stewart reported from Syria that Soviet ships were already unloading at Latakia, and tank carriers were hauling new T-62s south toward the front through peaceful fields of ripening wheat. Israeli military leaders believe that their U.S. weapons are superior to Soviet equipment, but if America decides to arm the Arabs too, they argue, Jerusalem's leverage will be lost.

Meanwhile, Jerusalem was visibly upset last week over another U.S. move toward the Arabs. In the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. and twelve other members condemned Israel for a reprisal raid on suspected Palestinian guerrilla hideouts in Lebanon. Then by a vote of 7 to 6, the Council rejected a U.S. amendment to censure the Palestinians as well for their attack on the Israeli town of Qiryat Shemona, which took 18 lives and precipitated the Israeli reprisal.

As a result of such actions, Israel is less enthusiastic about Kissinger's latest visit than are his Arab hosts. At the same time, Egyptian officials admitted last week that Arab extremists had attempted an abortive coup. It was one more danger sign that time and a continued momentum in negotiations are major factors in any Middle East equation, and it helped explain Kissinger's frenetic shuttle diplomacy. As the Secretary of State says, if the momentum for peace is lost the prospects of war gain.

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