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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, DECEMBER 4, 1981
PAGE 10
Israel, of course, had turned a deaf ear to the Saudi plan from the very
outset, because it was nothing new at all. It called for a return of all
Arab lands captured in the 1967 six-day war, including East Jerusalem, and
the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
It amounted to only a rehash of previous U.N. accords.
The Saudi plan moreover was doomed to failure in the Arab world, where it
was considered "too moderate." President Navon and the Israeli leaders
were the ones least surprised when the Arab head-of-state summit conference
collapsed a few days later in Fez, Morocco. The chief item on the agenda,
the Saudi proposal, was shot down in flames by the radical Arab states.
Perhaps it would be better to say that it was a stillbirth. Less than 48
hours before the conference began, Syria decided to boycott the conference,
ensuring its failure. It is certain that the soviet Union, Syria's arms
supplier, told Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad, not to go. Moscow doesn't
want any moderate ideas floating around the Middle East. Better to keep the
pot boiling.
Arab hard-liners exulted over the conference's early adjournment (after
only five and one-half hours). Libyan officials gloated that they had pre
dicted the outcome. The Israelis, for their part merely said "We told you
so."
More than anything else, the Fez fiasco showed how weak Saudi Arabia is in
Arab circles. The men in Riyadh may be good at shoveling out tons of money
to Arabs of all persuasions, but this loose cash hasn't bought much in
fluence for them. It's in Damascus, Baghdad, Tripoli--and Moscow--where
the real power resides.
Interestingly enough, after the latest display of Arab distemper and dis
unity at Fez, the only "ballgame" left in the Middle East is the Camp David
accord between Israel and Egypt, imperfect though it may be.
During Mr. Armstrong's meeting with President Hosni Mubarak on November 21,
the Egyptian leader said that he would be continuing two avenues of peace
begun by the late Anwar Sadat--the Camp David peace process and the Mt.
Sinai peace project in which the Ambassador Foundation is involved. In a
20-minute discussion, which became warmer the longer it went on (and which
will be shown on The WORLD TOMORROW television program), President Mubarak
mentioned that peace can only come through sacrifice. Mr. Armstrong re
sponded that President Sadat paid the ultimate sacrifice for peace--his
life.
Behind the Sadat Assassination
In this light it must be remembered the curious manner in which Sadat died.
He was cut down while attending an eighth anniversary "victory" celebration
highlighting the initial successes of the war he launched in 1973 in order
to recover Egypt's "pride." The tide of the war later turned of course, but
the Egyptian military felt that they recovered their manhood and had be
come, somehow, equal to the Israelis. The image of Moshe Dayan, the hero of
the 1967 war, was conversely sullied a bit.
Without this short-lived victory, Anwar Sadat, a man of war, could not have
felt confident enough to launch his bold move for peace in November, 1977.
Such is peace as the world gives it.