Just Ask the Sheik

In a carefully coordinated move, the Soviet Union's two most prestigious newspapers last week delivered a one-two editorial punch against U.S. Middle East policy. Pravda accused Washington of attempting to drive a wedge between Egypt and Russia "to secure the kind of peaceful settlement under which the U.S., using Israel as a tool, could dictate its will to the Arab states." Izvestia followed by accusing the U.S. of seeking a Middle East solution "at the expense of the Arab countries." Coming only a week after Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny's flying visit to Cairo to sign a 15-year treaty of friendship, the message was clear: Moscow, determined to remain a force in the Arab world, has clearly been nettled by Washington's moves to gain a foothold by arranging a peace settlement.

The best possibility for peace at the moment seems to lie in an interim settlement that would involve reopening the Suez Canal. The chances of success, however, are particularly slim if the Russians decide to use their friendship treaty to provide additional arms to Egypt. In what was meant as a reciprocal warning to Moscow, President Nixon at his press conference last week said that such shipments "can only mean a new arms race and could greatly jeopardize the chances for peace."

Quiet Nonbelligerence. Washington was worried that the Russians might provide additional armaments not so much to bolster the Egyptians as to panic Israel into trying to wheedle additional arms out of the U.S., thereby throwing both the arms balance and the American peace effort out of kilter. Sure enough, in the wake of the treaty, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Yitzhak Rabin last week inquired into the status of an Israeli request for an additional $500 million in economic aid and military supplies. Washington has so far held back on approving the request. With some justification, Jerusalem fears that the U.S. might use aid as a lever to push Israel into a settlement with Egypt on terms less than satisfactory to Israel.

In fact, a more compelling reason for U.S. hesitation is that Washington is trying to determine how far Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is inclined--and able --to go in seeking peace. In a lengthy speech to the People's Assembly --known as the National Assembly until Sadat reconstituted it in the wake of an unsuccessful coup against him last month by members of his Cabinet --Egypt's President took a hard line on the U.S. effort. One superpower, he told the Assembly, "is an honorable friend that stands on our side in the darkest days. The other declares even today that it will guarantee the balance of power in favor of Israel." In private, Sadat appears less belligerent. Even after negotiating the friendship treaty with Podgorny, he quietly informed Washington that he is still interested in a settlement.

Spirited Sessions. To make peace, however, Sadat must be strong at home. So far, he appears to be firmly in control. Last week, in the courtyard of the Interior Ministry, Sadat joined loyal Cabinet members in a ceremonial bonfire. Trunkloads of magnetic tapes, on which former Presidential Affairs Minister Sami Sharaf and other plotters had recorded conversations and wiretaps, were hauled into the courtyard and set ablaze. Said Sadat: "People need peace of mind. The destruction of the tapes ushers in a clean new age, the age of the modern state."

Sadat is apparently determined to destroy his rivals with ridicule as well as prison sentences. Al Ahram Editor Mohammed Hassanein Heikal claimed in his weekly column that Sharaf, Interior Minister Shaarawi Gomaa and Defense Minister Mohammed Fawzi had even relied on the occult in their conspiracy against Sadat. Citing taped evidence, Heikal said that during one seance a university professor acted as their medium and consulted the spirit of a departed sheik named Abdul Rahim. Fawzi asked the spirit for a favorable date on which to attack Israel. Obviously mindful of the results of the Six-Day War, which broke out four years ago last week, the disembodied sheik would give only evasive answers.

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