Bridging the Divide

By J.F.O. McAllister/Washington

Before hustling off to talk health care in Pennsylvania last Friday, Bill Clinton upstaged a previously scheduled press conference by his Secretary of State to make this announcement himself: Jordan's King Hussein and Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will meet for a summit in Washington next Monday, complete with a White House dinner and speeches before a joint session of Congress.

Though Hussein and Rabin have already met each other in secret at least five times, and their countries have for two decades quietly shared everything from water to intelligence about terrorists, this was a major step on the tortured road to Middle East peace, particularly for Hussein. His last taboo has been to acknowledge publicly his cooperation with Israel, the trickiest part of his long balancing act in the intricate politics of his region.

With the death of North Korea's Kim Il Sung two weeks ago, Hussein, 58, becomes the world's longest serving head of state. He has been King for 41 years and has survived at least nine assassination attempts. He has been fighting kidney and prostate cancer for some two years, and has impressed Israeli officials who have met him recently as fatalistic and pensive, mindful of his place in history. He embarked on the road to the summit on May 15, when he met Rabin privately in London. According to an official present, Rabin treated Hussein to an almost two-hour-long stem-winder warning that unless he climbed on board the peace train now he would be left behind forever, overtaken by Yasser Arafat's P.L.O., which would soon take control of the Gaza Strip, Jericho and later the rest of the West Bank. "If you are left alone," Rabin said, "your nightmare may come true, and Jordan will become the Palestinian state."

Almost certainly, Rabin's words struck a chord with the King. Jordan is in a bind, with peace the only way out. The country is broke, partly as a result of Hussein's backing Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. Any prospect of relief, or new economic aid, not to mention the trade boom that would follow opened borders with the West Bank and Israel, hinges upon a peace deal. According to Marwan Dudin, a senior negotiator for Jordan, the King was worried that with the P.L.O. gaining strength in the West Bank, he was "systematically being left out by the Palestinians and Egyptians in an obvious attempt to marginalize him."

So the King carefully constructed a peace offensive to put himself back in the center of things. In early June, Israel and Jordan agreed to conduct unprecedented, high-level talks on their own territory, to begin next week between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Salam Majali at the Red Sea ports of Eilat and Aqaba, with U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Later in June, Hussein met with Clinton at the White House, where he sought forgiveness of debts the U.S. values at $685 million and help in modernizing Jordan's military. The President, says a senior U.S. official, "told the King that while he was very sympathetic, his ability to help was strictly a function of the King's willingness to engage in high-profile dramatic events that would demonstrate his willingness to make peace with Israel." Last week, after Hussein all but told his parliament that he would meet Rabin, he sent Clinton a letter saying he was ready to do just that.

The real target of these careful preparations was Syria's Hafez Assad, who has always insisted on a comprehensive peace and who can make trouble for Hussein in Jordan. But just as he swallowed Arafat's separate peace with Israel, Assad does not seem unduly angry at Hussein's deal -- which, Christopher carefully pointed out, will not produce any final, formal peace agreement next week. One reason, TIME learned, is that Hussein hurried to Damascus right after his secret London meeting with Rabin and, in a one-on-one conversation with Assad, revealed his plans to move closer to peace with Israel. Instead of the anger Hussein expected, Assad was cautious, telling him to go ahead as long as he signed no treaty. And when Clinton called Assad to alert him to the upcoming summit, Assad's tone was more-in-sorrow-than-in- anger. "I don't think the Syrians were too surprised," says a senior U.S. official. Nor should they feel forsaken. Christopher will be meeting Assad this week to try yet again to devise a formula for Israel's return of the Golan Heights. Last week Peres said Israel "has recognized Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights and peace based on the international borders subject to the security needs of Israel," the most explicit indication yet that Israel will not insist on keeping part of the Golan. Says a U.S. official: "It's probably good for Syria to feel a little pressure." Not too much pressure, of course, but enough to stir Assad toward peace. And if that happens, King Hussein will deserve at least some of the credit.

With reporting by Ron Ben-Yishai/Tel Aviv, Lisa Beyer/Jerusalem and Jamil Hamad/Amman