(3 of 3)
Everyone, it seemed, found something to welcome in the pause. Lebanese on all sides, rebel, progovernment, or in between, hailed the unanimous Assembly action. Why anyone should put faith in Egypt's reaffirmation of pledges it had systematically broken was not clear. Anyway, Jordan shut off its radio war against Egypt and hoped Cairo would reciprocate. Hussein, who only a year ago had accepted Egyptian command of his army after driving out the British, said he hoped to resume diplomatic relations with the nation that called him traitor. Some diplomats thought that Nasser would think twice about inheriting the creaky state of Jordan if he felt that Israel would fight to keep Jordan out of his hands. Nasser's economic and political difficulties in absorbing Syria (TIME, June 30) may also have persuaded him that out-and-out annexation of other Arab countries is a poor idea. Provided that he can bring the rest of the Arab world under his sway—as he has already done in Iraq and Saudi Arabia—the Egyptian dictator might be content with a loose federation of Arab states rather than one imperial Egyptianrun nation. These were the reassuring possibilities.
But the fact was that the West had decided that if it could not in conscience join in Arab nationalism, it would no longer fight it, and would even put up money to help "legitimate" Arab nationalism. The trouble is that the controlling interest in Arab nationalism is now owned by Nasser. In winning a breathing spell in the Middle East, the U.S. and Britain had all but conceded hegemony of the Arab world—at least during reasonably good behavior—to a man and a nation steeped in hostility to the West. The Egyptians were among those most jubilant at the 80-to-0 General Assembly vote. Headlined one Cairo newspaper: THE IMPERIALIST PLOTTERS HAVE BEEN FOILED.
* Lebanon, Jordan, the U.A.R., Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Libya.
* Only nation not voting: the Dominican Republic. Since Playboy "Ramfis" Trujillo, the dictator's son, was refused a diploma from the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, the Dominican Republic has had the sulks over everything American (presumably including the U.N. because it is in New York).