Arabs: Summit in Rabat

Tunisia's Habib Bourguiba was genuinely ill with infectious hepatitis, Iraq's Hassan Bakr appeared to have a diplomatic ailment, and Syria's Noureddine Atassi simply stayed home. But every other leader of the Arab League nations, as well as Guerrilla Leader Yasser Arafat, at week's end converged on Rabat for the first Arab summit in two years. The dominant figure, of course, was Gamal Abdel Nasser. The principal aim of the Egyptian President was to try once again to unite the divided Arabs in order to exert increased pressure on Israel.

The difficulty of such an assignment was immediately evident. Half an hour...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!