Gamal Goes Acourtin'

As he jetted about the Middle East last week, it looked as if Gamal Abdel Nasser were going acourtin' once more. Extending a three-day Libyan visit to six days, he drew crowds of 40,000 in Tripoli, 65,000 in Benghazi. He further delighted Libyans by appearing as a witness at the wedding of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, 27, the nation's revolutionary leader, to Fathia Khaled, daughter of an army officer. In Khartoum, he joined Major General Jaafar Numeiry, Sudan's boss since an army coup last year, in celebrating the country's 14th anniversary of independence. Three miniskirted girls broke through the security ring surrounding Nasser and one of them managed to seize him and buss him before she was hustled away.

Actually, Nasser's courtship was a relatively cautious affair. Badly burned by Egypt's previous attempts at unions with the mercurial states of Syria and Iraq, he was plainly leary of any binding marriage with either Libya or the Sudan. Even if these new "West of Suez" alliances do not presage formal political ties, however, they set the stage for close military and economic cooperation with Libya and the Sudan. On top of that, having lost considerable prestige at the recent Arab summit in Rabat, Nasser was seeking to recoup it amidst the cheering Libyans and Sudanese.

Divided Leaque. Nasser had flown into Rabat hoping to persuade the 13 other Arab League states to back his proposal for total military mobilization against Israel. He left with a grudging, divided vote of support. Worse, the aura of unity that had prevailed among the Arab states ever since the shattering Six-Day War of 1967 was dispelled.

Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the oil-rich countries that bankroll much of the war against Israel, were incensed by extravagant demands for more funds. Yemen and South Yemen resented the fact that the summit focused entirely on Israel; they had hoped to air their own border disputes with King Feisal of Saudi Arabia.

The most significant objections, however, came from Algeria's Houari Boumedienne. During the summit and at a six-hour meeting with Nasser afterward, he argued that a frontal attack on Israel under Egyptian leadership was doomed to failure. Palestinian Arabs, Boumedienne said, should be allowed to settle the issue on their own rather than drag other Arabs into a general war. Boumedienne resisted Nasser's demand for more men and more money. "What do you need all this armor and equipment for?" he asked.

Maghreb Unity. If Libya and the Sudan seemed mesmerized by Nasser, the other Arab states were finding him eminently resistible. Despite their ideological differences, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia--three states of North Africa's historic Maghreb--appeared to be moving toward closer relations again. Boumedienne is shuffling Algeria's ambassadors, and has warned them that henceforth they will be graded on how much they foster commercial relationships rather than on how well they spout anti-Israel rhetoric.

Both Algeria and Syria appear to be cautiously seeking stronger economic ties with the West. If Jordan's King Hussein were able to act independently, he would probably agree to a political settlement with Israel on the basis of the U.S. peace plan rejected by Egypt and the Soviet Union. But the Arab guerrillas and the Palestinian majority in his country would almost certainly depose him if he pursued such a course. On Nasser's advice. Lebanon granted freer rein to the guerrillas operating within its boundaries--and now may regret that decision. Last week, increased fedayeen activity brought sharp Israeli retaliation, including the seizure of 21 hostages from Lebanon in response to the kidnaping of one Israeli.

The prestige of the Western powers, meanwhile, seemed to be rising. Vigorously seeking to open new Middle East markets, France is actively wooing Libya. The British are equally eager for Arab markets. Last month they quickly acceded to Colonel Gaddafi's demand that they abandon their bases in Libya, hoping that one result would be to persuade the Libyan army to buy British Chieftain tanks. Even the U.S. seems to be improving its image a bit, possibly because most of the Arab leaders are gradually beginning to admit that Washington's policy is no longer wholly pro-Israel. Since the Rabat summit, in fact, there has been a noticeable decline--outside Egypt, Libya and the Sudan--in the anti-American oratory that has long echoed in the region.

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