Hasty Marriage Across the Sea

Libya and Syria agree to tie the knot in the latest merger try

Rarely has a marriage between nations been arranged so quickly. On Sept. 1, Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi sounded out Syrian President Hafez Assad on the question of merger. A week later, Assad flew off to Tripoli to discuss details; two days after that the deal was struck. According to a 13-point proclamation issued in Tripoli and Damascus, the two leaders had agreed to form a "political, economic, military and cultural union" that would become "the base for confronting the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland and the liberation of Palestine."

Outsiders could be forgiven a certain skepticism. No merger of Arab states has yet worked for long. Enough have been attempted: Syria alone has tried to unite, at one time or another, with Egypt, Libya and Iraq, and all such efforts have ended in failure. Moreover, few details of the new merger have been agreed upon. So far the new partnership has no name, no head of state, no constitution, no joint institutions, no capital city. Nonetheless, Syria's Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam was dispatched to Saudi Arabia and five other Arab states to seek their blessing and invite one and all to join.

The Libyans, with uncharacteristic caution, described the creation of a union as a long and complex process. As one top government official, Ahmed Shahati, explained to TIME Correspondent Roland Flamini: "We now have more experience in these affairs, and we shall proceed step by step. After all, we both practice socialism, we both struggle to create Arab unity, and we share a common aim to liberate Palestine."

In some ways, merger could be useful to both countries. As usual, Syria is having trouble with neighboring Iraq, and could use some of Libya's oil riches for its ailing economy and for modernizing its Soviet-equipped army. Libya is at loggerheads with Egypt and Morocco and is viewed with suspicion by a number of other Arab states. There are also some problems at home. Gaddafi has vowed to go to Upper Galilee to fight the Israelis. Apparent meaning: he would not mind sending to Syria some of those Libyan military units, now based in Tobruk near the Egyptian border, that last month attempted an insurrection against his regime.

While Gaddafi and Assad were talking merger last week, the Egyptians and Israelis were inching their way back toward negotiations on Palestinian autonomy. The two sides had earlier agreed to resume the talks and to hold another summit conference, probably in Washington, some time after the U.S. elections. Last week Israel's Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir flew to Alexandria to see President Anwar Sadat and discuss existing differences. The Israelis have hinted that as a good-will gesture to Egypt and the U.S., they may release some Palestinian political prisoners and Prime Minister Menachem Begin may postpone the transfer of his office to East Jerusalem. Moreover, in a move supported even by hawkish Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon, the Israelis said that they would build only four more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank--perhaps a sign that they were beginning to realize how much their settlements policy has contributed to Israel's isolation in the world.

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