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The Fedayeen
No such sanctuary is allowed in Jordan, where the fedayeen make their headquarters and from whence they launch the majority of their raids. The East Bank of the Jordan River is virtually a no man's land, and many of the country's villages have been heavily damaged by retaliating Israeli jets. The fedayeen swagger openly through the streets of Amman, Kalashnikov assault rifles at the ready, in defiance of an agreement between their leaders and the King that they will submit to civil law. Eventually, Hussein must face the cruel choice of Israeli devastation of his kingdom if he does not curb the fedayeen, or civil war with the Palestinians if he tries.
Hussein's dilemma is a vivid lesson to any country that might let the fedayeen operate within its borders. Nonetheless, the most peaceable Arab land of all, Lebanon, is being inexorably drawn toward the same fate. Three weeks ago, its government resigned in the wake of riots by Palestinians and students demanding freedom of action for the fedayeen. Last week Lebanon was still without a government, as its politicians vainly sought a compromise that would, in the words of President Charles Helou, allow Lebanon to "support this just struggle within our sovereignty and integrity"—in other words, without incurring Israel's wrath. Pushing the issue, commandos last week attacked a police post and a key road junction in southern Lebanon, and in the brief battles two Lebanese soldiers and seven commandos died. Al-Fatah Commander Arafat flew to Beirut to negotiate a truce. No matter what the outcome, Lebanon will almost certainly be the loser.
The fedayeen draw their main strength from the 1.3 million Palestinian refugees, and have the political power to endanger any peace agreement that does not include an offer that the refugees would consider, finally, just. The Palestinians are among the bitterest people in the world, and with reason. In the wake of the 1948 war, they scattered throughout the Arab lands. Educated, intelligent, some of them staff the ranks of governments and the faculties of Arab universities. But the majority were herded into squalid camps, fed by the United Nations on 7¢ a day and used as pawns by Arab politicians —particularly Nasser—to justify the continuing struggle with Israel. While diplomats spent over 20 years discussing and dropping various plans for resettling them, the Palestinian children were being taught as their primary subjects hatred for Israel and a determination to regain their land in the same way it was taken away—by force. Now grown to young manhood, they are the world's dividend of neglect, the fedayeen.
The cries for revenge of the fedayeen and the militancy of Egypt's army have their echoes in Israel. Israelis ended the Six-Day War with secure frontiers and a strategic geographic advantage that they had never had before. Their military is stronger than in 1967, and their Arab enemies are still divided. Moreover, the war sparked an economic boom that will have raised the national product 25% by the end of this year, and brought to Israel a political unity that has been made even more cohesive by Premier Golda Meir.
Fortress Israel
Yet in the past two