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Middle East: Heresy in Cairo

3 minute read
TIME

The 400 delegates to the Palestine Liberation Organization’s National Assembly in Cairo could hardly believe their ears. From President Gamal Abdel Nasser, they had expected the usual blood-and-thunder oratory they have heard from Arab leaders for the past 17 years—a harangue on the need to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

Unclosed Eyes. Instead, Nasser reminded his listeners of the disastrous Arab summit meeting (TIME, June 4), which failed to reach agreement on a single agenda item. “We must face facts today and not close our eyes,” Nasser declared. “Today each Arab state is afraid of the others. We are beset by suspicions, contradictions and distrust.” This was confession enough, but the bombshell was still to come. Since the Arab states were not strong enough militarily to defend their planned diversion of the headwaters of the Jordan River, declared Nasser, “then I say: let us postpone the diversion. We must provide for Arab defense before we can carry out our ultimate goal and liberate Palestine.”

The delegates received this heresy in stunned silence. Said one: “If anyone else had said what Nasser said today, Arabs would have branded him a traitor to the cause. But Nasser says it, and we accept it.” Not everyone agreed. The Baathist regime in Syria persisted in calling for mass action against Israel. At a Damascus rally, Syrian Strongman Amin Hafez sneered at Nasser as “the self-proclaimed pioneer of Arab nationalism.” Cried Hafez: “What is he waiting for? I went to the first Arab summit 18 months ago under the impression that the conference would lay down plans to liberate Palestine. Instead we were faced with a plan to divert the Jordan waters. Now we are told even this is impossible. Is this the mark of a successful leader?”

Gunned Tractors. But Nasser had already made a withering reply in his Cairo speech: “Our Syrian brothers say, ‘Let us attack Israel tomorrow or the day after.’ Israel has attacked Syria’s diversion projects. But if Israel attacks Syria, do I attack Israel? That means letting Israel set the time for the battle. But is this the wise course? Is it logical that I attack Israel when there are 50,000 Egyptian soldiers in Yemen?”

Nasser was talking sense, for once again guns were firing and people dying along Israel’s tense frontier. It remained to be seen if the Arab world would listen—and if Nasser really meant it.

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