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While his brother Arab losers looked to Moscow for aid and affection, Hussein last month set out purposely for Washington and Western Europe, stressing his continued friendship with the West and asking for political, economic and military support to rebuild his land. "We have made many mistakes in the past," he said, "partly because we have failed to present our case properly." After speaking at the United Nations, Hussein visited Lyndon Johnson, Harold Wilson, Charles de Gaulle and Pope Paul VI, trying to convince the world that the Arabs' case is more reasonable than most Arabs make it sound and—not incidentally—that he is the best hope for moderation and realism in the Arab world.
Hussein also had another, more dangerous mission. During his trip, he talked often and long with the leaders or top diplomats of most Arab states, seeking to persuade them to accept a message that has up to now been pure heresy in Arabia: that the time has come for the Arabs to make their peace with Israel.
Starting Point. Hussein's reputation in Jordan and the Arab world is higher than ever before because he was the only Arab ruler to go to the front with his troops. Taking advantage of this, he is trying to get the Arab nations to hold a summit meeting later this month, hoping that he can convince them that they must accept Israel's right to existence as a starting point for negotiations. "We either come out better off now as the result of genuine efforts of all of us to face up to things, or we face some extremely serious possibilities of deterioration in the Arab world," he says. "Even our identity, our ability to maintain ourselves as nations is involved."
It is by no means clear that Hussein can bring the Arab leaders together even to talk about peace. Most moderate Arab nations favor the idea, but Nasser has hemmed and hawed. Algeria's Boumediene, whose militant cries during the war have made him a rival of Nasser for leadership of the Arab left, turned down a suggestion that the meeting take place in Algiers because "there are some Arabs I wouldn't want to set foot in my country." Syrian Information Minister Mohamed Zubi sneered that "the only way to forge Arab unity is through struggle and not summitry."
Still, Hussein believes that if he can only bring the summit off, he has at least a fighting chance to convince the leftist leaders—who are, after all, under pressure from Russia—to listen to reason. "We Jordanians might be in a position to influence their thinking," he says. If not, Hussein intends to ask for their tacit consent for Jordan's coming to terms with Israel alone. If even their neutrality is denied him, Hussein may just go ahead without the consent of his fellow Arab leaders. "If it is absolutely impossible to reach agreement," says a close aide of Hussein's, "then each country will have to deal with the situation as it sees best. We are certainly going to refuse to have our hands tied when any country—Arab or otherwise—behaves negatively. We have the courage to do what is necessary."