In Disaster's Wake

"We cannot hide from ourselves the fact that we have met with a grave setback in the last few days." With that uncharacteristic bit of understatement, Gamal Abdel Nasser began his accounting to Egypt and the Arab world in a radio and television address the day after his cease-fire with Israel. Nasser went on to assert that, of course, Israel alone could never have defeated the united legions of Arabia: the U.S. and Britain must have helped. And then his despairing and disbelieving followers heard Nasser announce his resignation from "every official post and every political role." He was, he said, handing the Egyptian presidency over to Vice President Zakaria Mohieddin.

It was an adroit ploy by the most popular leader in the Arab world, an effort to turn ignominy into personal triumph --and it worked. Angry Algerian street mobs who had been shouting "Lynch Nasser!" suddenly changed their tune. Within 30 minutes Iraqi President Abdel Rahman Aref was on the phone to Cairo urging Nasser to reconsider. Lebanese President Charles Helou wept openly when he heard the news. From Baghdad to Beirut, Arab mobs swept into the streets to demonstrate for Nasser. Often the demonstrations took on an ugly anti-Americanism, as in Beirut, where rioters were so unimaginative as to set fire to a Coca-Cola bottling plant.

Bowing to the People. Cairo itself went half-mad. Sobbing men ran through the streets like children, wailing "Don't leave us, Abdel Nasser." Women flailed about screaming as if in mourning, scooping up dust and throwing it on their heads. By bus and train, camel and foot, peasants poured into Cairo, inveighing against the "U.S. imperialists" and pleading "Nasser, stay with us!" If, as some intelligence sources indicate, an incipient military coup was in the works against Nasser, the plotters got the message. So did everybody else. Mohieddin announced that he would refuse to take over. Nasser's Cabinet voted not to accept his resignation; Nasser's rubber-stamp National Assembly did the same. Just as he had probably calculated all along, Nasser was able to "bow to the voice of the people" and keep his job.

Whether King Hussein in Jordan and the Baathist regime in Syria can do as well in the wake of disaster remains to be seen. Hussein, unshaven and haggard in battle dress after three days without sleep, made his own public reckoning. But it was the plain speaking of a candid and courageous man. Israel had won "with overwhelming strength," he said, adding, his eyes glistening, "I hope people all over the world will recognize the efforts this country made to defend its soil."

Precise Estimates. Even after the visible debris of war has been cleaned up, the stain left on Arab pride by the furious events of last week may well remain for years. "Our estimates of the enemy's strength were precise," said Nasser in his postmortem. "They showed us that our armed forces had reached a level of equipment and training at which they were capable of deterring and repelling the enemy." The failure to do just that may sooner or later bring down Arab rulers all over the Middle East, and it will make the Arab dream of unity more ephemeral than ever. Such substance as the dream once had was rooted in common military cause against Israel. Now, even in the often surrealistic logic of Arab leaders, that dream can hardly be evoked seriously for a generation to come.

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