Friends and Enemies

By James Kelly

Jordan and Egypt renew ties, as Israel and Syria try to cut a deal

The announcement flashed over Jordanian television at 8 p.m. Two hours later, a special bulletin appeared on Egyptian television. In both countries, the news was greeted with mild applause and much surprise. After a five-year rift, Jordan was restoring full diplomatic ties with its neighbor to the west. One of the 17 Arab nations that have severed relations with Egypt since the late President Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, Jordan now becomes the first country to rescind that gesture of disapproval. Although Egypt and Jordan have had a growing number of contacts over the past year, even Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was slightly amazed when King Hussein telephoned to inform him of his decision. Said a delighted Mubarak: "This is a daring step by King Hussein on the right path regarding Arab cohesion."

The dramatic move left Egypt less iso lated in the region and underscored Hussein's longtime desire to protect his small kingdom by building strong alliances. Yet the maneuver also deepened divisions within the Arab world. Syria and Libya violently denounced Jordan's decision, while moderate states like Saudi Arabia quietly clucked disapproval. Syrian President Hafez Assad most fears a realignment among Arab nations that would shift power away from Damascus and create a new atmosphere of tolerance in the Arab community for Egypt's separate peace with Israel. "This is a treacherous stab in the back of the Arab struggle and an open plot against the Palestinian cause," said Syria's government-controlled newspaper Al Thawra. "Syria will not allow a new Camp David in its neighborhood."

Jordan's move came during a week of heightened diplomatic activity in the Middle East. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy, who had hastened to Beirut to investigate the Sept. 20 truck bombing of the U.S. embassy, turned his trip into an impromptu regional tour. After spending a day in the Lebanese capital, Murphy visited Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo and Amman on what he called a "mission of exploration." Murphy was primarily seeking a way to speed a withdrawal of the 22,000 Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir said last week that he would like the U.S. to act as an intermediary with Syria in brokering a mutual troop withdrawal from Lebanon. Israeli officials also indicated for the first time that they might agree to bring their forces home without waiting for Syria to pull its 40,000 troops out of northern and eastern Lebanon. Nonetheless, U.S. officials in Washington cautioned against expecting quick results from the Murphy shuttle.

Jordan's move is a testimony to Mubarak's diplomatic skills. After most of the Arab world decided to ostracize Egypt over the Camp David accords, Sadat made matters worse by denouncing his onetime allies. He called the ruling family of Saudi Arabia "goatherders" and berated Hussein as a "dwarf." After Sadat's assassination in 1981, however, Mubarak quietly began repairing the damage. He refrained from attacking fellow Arabs in public and ordered Egyptian newspapers to follow his example. At the same time, the Egyptian President down-played his country's relationship with Israel, its treaty partner. Soon after the Israelis invaded Lebanon in 1982, Mubarak recalled his country's ambassador from Tel Aviv in protest; the envoy has yet to return.

Meanwhile, Hussein was finding his own reasons for renewing links with Cairo. Eternally suspicious of Syria's Assad, he grew increasingly alarmed as Syria attempted to supplant Egypt as the most influential Arab power. Hussein was especially angered by what he considered to be Syria's attempt to gain control of the movement for Palestinian nationalism. In May 1983, Damascus fueled the fires of revolt within the Palestine Liberation Organization against its leader, Yasser Arafat. Then last November, Syria encouraged Palestinian rebels to besiege Arafat in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli. The P.L.O. chief finally escaped, but his authority had been badly tattered.

Seeking to develop an axis of moderate Arab nations that could counterbalance Syria's power, Hussein began reaching out to Egypt. Last December, Amman signed a trade agreement with Cairo, reducing import barriers between the two countries. Meanwhile, Arafat met with both Mubarak and Hussein; by July, he had sufficiently rebuilt his authority within the P.L.O. to call a Palestine National Council meeting for Sept. 25 in Algiers. Assad, alarmed that Arafat might use the occasion to diminish the Syrian leader's influence in the P.L.O., flew to Algiers last month to pressure Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid into canceling the P.L.O. get-together. Chadli agreed. Hussein was so dismayed by the Syrian President's heavyhanded interference that he decided to make the burgeoning Jordanian relationship with Egypt official. "Jordan was fed up with it all," said a Western diplomat. "It just decided that enough was enough."

Mubarak's fondest hope is that other Arab countries will follow Hussein's lead in forgiving Egypt. One possible recruit is Iraq, which has enjoyed the support of both Egypt and Jordan in its four-year war against Iran. The most valuable addition to the Recognize Egypt campaign would be Saudi Arabia, whose prestige and caution make it a nation that many neighbors would be willing to follow. TIME'S Philip Finnegan reports that for the past two years Saudi Arabian officials have been holding secret talks with the Egyptians in Cairo and Riyadh. The meetings have covered topics ranging from the Iran-Iraq conflict to the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Yet even if Saudi Arabia were inclined to renew bonds with Egypt, it would most probably work in harmony with the other gulf states.

The question remains what an Egyptian-Jordanian bloc could accomplish. The united front undoubtedly strengthens Arafat's hand in his struggle against As sad for the soul of the P.L.O. For his part, Mubarak supports the 1982 Reagan peace plan, which calls for establishing an autonomous Palestinian confederation by linking the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza to Jordan. He hopes that by joining forces with Amman he can build momentum for talks with Israel. According to diplomats in Amman, however, Hussein may have different motives for embracing Egypt. He may want to deflect U.S. disapproval if, as some diplomats expect, he decides to buy weapons from the Soviet Union. Or he may simply | be pursuing his policy of forging alliances, in this case with the most populous Arab country. "Jordan is always looking for friends in the region," says a Western official. "It is a small country and needs protection."

Mubarak may not find a sympathetic ear in Jerusalem either. Though he and Prime Minister Shimon Peres have exchanged notes about improving relations, Mubarak received a vivid example last week of the difficulties in dealing with an Israeli government of national unity that is nonetheless composed of ideological opposites. A spokesman for Foreign Minister Shamir, who was in New York City last week for the opening of the United Nations General Assembly, said that Israel still opposed the Reagan peace plan. This brought a terse rejoinder from Jerusalem, where Peres' Cabinet Secretary said that the gnew government, which was formed only last month, had not yet discussed the matter.

Shamir seemed on firmer footing when he let it be known last week that Jerusalem had dropped the key demand that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon at the same time as Israel. "As a matter of principle, we believe that all foreign forces should be withdrawn," Shamir said. "But the question of how and when and under what circumstances--that is to be negotiated." There is a powerful reason for Israel's growing flexibility: last week two more Israeli soldiers were killed and ten wounded by unknown assailants in surprise attacks. "We have only two desires," says a top Foreign Ministry official. "To get the hell out of Lebanon as soon as possible and to assure the safety of our troops."

That was the main business of Murphy's diplomatic tour. U.S. officials readily admitted that Murphy had no specific plan when he began his hopscotch around the Arab capitals. But Murphy was a good choice to send on a side trip to Damascus: as U.S. Ambassador to Syria from 1974 to 1978, he developed a personal friendship with Assad. The two men talked for more than two hours before Murphy flew to Jerusalem, where he conferred with Peres for an hour. After seeing Mubarak in Cairo and lunching with Hussein in Amman, Murphy returned to Damascus on Friday. He met with Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, Assad's chief trouble-shooter in Lebanon, then went to Beirut for another round with President Amin Gemayel.

Murphy's return to Syria suggested to some that Assad might be amenable to a U.S.-brokered Israeli withdrawal. It has generally been assumed that Syria felt it had nothing to lose in seeing Israel mired in Lebanon. Some Western diplomats in Damascus contend, however, that Assad now fears that the growing violence against the Israelis in southern Lebanon may trigger a retaliatory attack by Israel against Syrian troops. These diplomats do not believe that Damascus has dropped its demand that Jerusalem unilaterally withdraw its soldiers and disband the Israeli-supplied Lebanese militia that helps patrol the region. Syria, however, may offer vague assurances that Israel's northern border will be protected from terrorist attacks. One possibility includes deploying the Lebanese Army in the south and beefing up the 5,700-man U.N. peace-keeping force in the area.

Nothing is likely to be settled soon. Assad has proved himself a master of the waiting game, stretching out talks before deciding not to decide. Murphy is in a position to test the wisdom of a statement he made last July that Syria had played a "helpful role" in the northern part of Lebanon. Whether that judgment applies to the south of the country depends on how much sympathy Assad shows toward Israeli concerns, and vice versa. --By James Kelly.

Reported by John Borrell /Damascus and Barrett Seaman/Washington

With reporting by John Borrell, Barrett Seaman