Jordan's King Hussein: "I Am Not Optimistic at All"

The question had just been asked: Did he predict failure for the Jerusalem talks? As Jordan's King Hussein was about to answer, a door to his office in Amman's Basman Palace flew open and Abdul Hamid Sharaf, Chief of the Royal Court, burst in with a message. Scanning the note that had been handed to him, the King turned to his interviewer, TIME Cairo Bureau Chief Wilton Wynn. "I suppose," said Hussein with a grim smile, "we should be speaking in the past tense." The King read the dispatch aloud: President Anwar Sadat had withdrawn his delegation from Jerusalem and summoned the Egyptian parliament into special session.

Even before that unexpected news, Hussein's mood had been dour as he discussed the problems of Middle East peacemaking with Wynn. "If these talks fail," the King predicted, "we are then at the end of the road, the end of Resolution 242, the end of Resolution 338 [the broad United Nations Security Council blueprint for peace] the end of hope for peace. We will be heading for disaster in terms of this area and the whole world."

Hussein praised Sadat's initiative in going to Jerusalem as "courageous, and representing the longings within the souls of so many in the Arab world, a step forward to bring things to a head." But, he added, "so far, we have no confidence that Sadat will be met by a similar response from Israel. Frankly, after all these years of trying hard to see any glimmer of hope, I am not optimistic at all."

Although Egypt's President has lately become the Arab world's principal peace negotiator, no leader in the past decade has tried harder than Hussein to reach an agreement with Israel. The King looks back on his efforts as failures: "Ever since 1967, we have made it clear--before the 1973 war--that if Israel were willing to withdraw from territory occupied in 1967, we would be ready to negotiate or do anything to achieve that end. Far from getting a promise, we did not succeed even in getting a disengagement with Israel in the Jordan Valley."

Would Hussein nevertheless still participate with Sadat in talks with Israel? "If we could see light at the end of the tunnel, we would not hesitate one second to negotiate. But we need a set of principles to provide that light." What sort of principles? "Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories, with minor rectifications on a reciprocal basis on the West Bank [since borders there are cease-fire lines rather than logical boundaries], Arab sovereignty over East Jerusalem, the right of return or compensation for Palestinian refugees, and the placing of West Bank and Gaza occupied territory under international auspices until the inhabitants could exercise self-determination."

Hussein does not believe, as the Israelis do, that peace must necessarily be underpinned by military guarantees of security. "Security cannot be guaranteed," he said, "unless there is a peace between partners giving both dignity, something lasting. In Jerusalem, for example, if there is Israeli sovereignty overall in an open city, open to all people, that would lead to cooperation between Israelis and Arabs, in itself a security guarantee. If there is a link of some kind between the West Bank and Gaza, that would require cooperation between Israelis and Arabs, another guarantee. Removal of barriers, fruitful cooperation, these are the things that provide security, not some military installations which can be removed or may become obsolete."

Israel, Hussein charged, adamantly refuses to accept such principles of negotiation. Therefore, said the King with a discouraged shrug, even though Sadat had invited Jordan, "there was no room for us to go to the Cairo conference or to Jerusalem." The overall situation leaves the King disappointed and bitter. "We have been rebuilding since 1967, and now there is the possibility of everything going to pieces. How we would like to have peace, so that we can continue raising the standards of our people."

As Wynn left the King's office, an aide observed: "The only thing left to do is to pray." Hussein spread out his arms and answered: "I have already prayed."

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