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Dayan's visit to Tangier was not his only recent encounter with an Arab head of state. Last month Dayan met Jordan's King Hussein in London, at a safe house jointly arranged by Israeli and Jordanian security agents. Hussein, who had five secret meetings with Rabin and one with former Defense Minister Shimon Peres, repeated a longstanding promise. Israel could have an overall peace treaty with Jordan if it returned all the occupied territory. Hussein said in effect: "I am ready to open a Jordanian embassy in Israel, but you will have to pull out from the West Bank." Hussein also indicated that he was willing to negotiate along the lines of the Israeli formula—a little land for a little peace. In return for an eight-to ten-mile strip along the Jordan River, Jordan would sign a partial agreement. The alternative, he warned, was for Dayan to "go deal with the P.L.O."
In their talks, Dayan stressed Israel's worries about border security. If Jordan once again controlled the West Bank, he insisted, Palestinian guerrillas might easily slip into Israel to carry out terrorist attacks. The gist of Hussein's reply: "You now control the West Bank. You have your army, police and security services. Have you been able to stop the terrorists? I might even do better than you have done." In the end, Dayan proposed a "functional partition" of the West Bank in exchange for a nonbelligerency treaty. Under such an agreement, the Israelis would maintain Jewish settlements on the West Bank and would control border security; the Amman government would have jurisdiction over the internal affairs of the Palestinian Arabs. The King was carefully noncommittal.
Dayan's secret talks have not been limited to Arab leaders. Since becoming Foreign Minister in Begin's government in June, he has held unpublicized discussions with the Shah of Iran, Turkish Premier Süleyman Demirel and Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai. The meetings were designed to improve Israel's shadowy relations with what the late David Ben-Gurion called its "periphery alliances" on the outskirts of the Arab world. Iran, for example, supplies nearly all of Israel's oil. Turkey, after aloofness following the 1967 Middle East war, has again begun to trade and talk.
Beyond that, the secret meetings were calculated to brighten Dayan's image. He would like to succeed Begin as Premier, but he has not had a secure power base since leaving the Labor Alliance to join the new government. Secret diplomacy can make influential friends as well as intriguing headlines. It can also provoke critics. "Our Foreign Minister," editorialized the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv last week, "has special talents in the sphere of thunderous secrecy. The entire world is always well informed about his timetable. Mr. Dayan creates too much ado about his secrets." Added a second newspaper, Al Hamishmar. "He certainly achieved one aim—to keep the name Dayan in the headlines."