Jihad for Jerusalem

By Marguerite Johnson

The Saudis try to lure Egypt's Sadat back into the Arab fold

"What has moderation achieved? Is this the West's concept of a just peace? , Where is the comprehensive peace framework envisaged at Camp David and promised us? All the masks have fallen, and the talk about peace with Israel has become a kind of illusion."

So said Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Fahd last week in the most ominous Arab response so far to the July resolution by the Israeli Knesset that declared undivided Jerusalem to be the country's eternal capital. The Saudi prince went on to call on all Arab countries to unite in a jihad (holy war) to liberate Israeli-occupied Arab territory and establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Mere rhetoric? Possibly. The Arabs, after all, are in no position to take on Israel militarily. But Carter Administration officials cautioned against dismissing Fahd's words too readily. The Saudis, said the analysts, might eventually feel obliged to take some action, perhaps a cut in oil production.* The Saudis saw the Israeli action both as a calculated insult to the Arab world and as final proof that under present conditions the Israelis simply are not prepared to negotiate a Palestinian settlement in any serious way. The Saudi royal family, moreover, looks upon itself as the guardian of Islam's holy places, which include Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem's predominantly Arab Old City.

The Saudi statement was also designed to step up pressure on Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to abandon the Camp David peace process and break relations with Israel. Shortly after the Knesset's action on Jerusalem, Sadat shot off an 18-page letter to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, explaining that he had no choice but to suspend the Egyptian-Israeli talks on Palestinian autonomy (see box). Sadat's decision won him plaudits among his estranged Arab neighbors. Morocco's King Hassan II and Jordan's King Hussein have joined the Saudis in trying to lure Sadat back to the Arab fold, and have let it be known that he might gain some badly needed oil money to shore up Egypt's economy. Explained Chedli Klibi, the Tunisian secretary-general of the Arab League, in an interview with TIME Diplomatic Correspondent Strobe Talbott: "In Islam we have a saying that if you try and fail--if you recognize your mistake--you will still find your reward. Sadat should recognize the truth and say, 'I've tried and failed.' By doing that he would show the world that he gave Israel a full chance to do justice but Israel refused."

Despite his disillusionment with Begin, Sadat indicated last week that he still regards the Camp David framework as the most promising way to a wider peace. Meanwhile, the Egyptians have launched a global diplomatic campaign to explain why Sadat asked for a hiatus in the negotiations. Among the emissaries dispatched abroad is Butros Ghali, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who flew to Rumania for a five-day official visit. Rumanian President Nicolae Ceausescu played a key role in preparing Sadat's historic mission to Jerusalem in 1977. Ceausescu, who heads the only East bloc nation that still has diplomatic relations with Israel, was said to favor a Geneva-type conference that would include the U.S., the Soviet Union and the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Failing that, Ceausescu was believed to be promoting a Begin-Sadat summit. At week's end that idea received an apparent endorsement from Sadat himself.

The Israeli reaction to Prince Fahd's call for a holy war was mild. Proclaimed a foreign ministry spokesman: "We are not shocked and we are not worried." The Israelis, in fact, seemed far more preoccupied with the latest internal squabble of Begin's faltering government. This time the Prime Minister was at odds with his lawkish Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon, a hero of the 1973 October War, who las made no secret of his desire to be Defense Minister. Begin has held that post since the resignation of Ezer Weizman last May, but he has only been able to devote a day or so each week to running Israel's complex defense establishment.

Sharon has publicly accused the Prime Minister of acting "flippantly and in an offhanded fashion" in his managing of the Defense portfolio. Every mother in Israel with a son in the army may ask her self some concerned questions, Sharon added. An angry Begin reportedly responded that the minister was "a danger to democracy." At a quarrelsome Sunday Cabinet meeting two weeks ago, other ministers eventually forced Sharon to apologize to his boss. Sharon has said that he will not resign his own post, which gives him primary authority over the establishment of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, unless Begin makes someone else Defense Minister. But since Sharon's resignation could bring down Begin's fragile coalition and force new elections, the Prime Minister has little choice but to put up with the thorn in his Cabinet.

Begin also remained angry about what he called "a blood libel" against him that appeared two weeks ago in the Washington Star. An article by David Halevy, an occasional contributor to the Star on leave of absence from TIME, charged that the Prime Minister's office had figured in the obstruction of the security service's investigation of the attempted assassinations of three West Bank mayors last June. As a result, the Star claimed that the head of the General Security Service (known as Shin Bet), Avraham Achituv, had resigned. Israeli newspaper reports about the Star story inspired an angry Knesset debate as well as protest demonstrations outside Begin's residence. Israel's attorney general last week announced that Halevy "may have committed a prima facie violation of Israeli law by publishing the name of the director of the General Security Service" -- which is forbidden within Israel -- and that he would conduct an investigation to see if an indictment were warranted.

Halevy insisted that his story was correct. Appearing before a Knesset commit tee, Achituv said that he had asked, well before the start of the bombing investigation, to resign at the end of the year. But Achituv flatly refused to discuss whether, as Halevy charged, Shin Bet did have strong pointers to the identity of the would-be assassins, who have yet to be arrested. Commented the independent daily Haaretz: "Doubts remain -- if not with regard to the reasons for the security service director's resignation, then with regard to the investigation of the assassination attempts."

*The Saudis and other Arab oil producers warned that they would cut off supplies to any nation maintaining an embassy in Jerusalem. Last week Uruguay joined Venezuela in announcing that it will move its embassy to Tel Aviv; The Netherlands is expected to follow. That would leave only ten embassies in Jerusalem. Most other nations, including the U.S., have their missions in Tel Aviv.

With reporting by DAVID AIKMAN, William Stewart

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.