His Majesty Is Not Pleased

By William E. Smith

From King Hussein, an election-year setback for U.S. policy

If there was any doubt about the magnitude of the Reagan Administration's recent diplomatic failures in the Middle East, it has now been dispelled by one of Washington's best Arab friends, King Hussein of Jordan. The Administration had been hoping that despite the collapse of its policy in Lebanon, the U.S. might be able to encourage a round of peace negotiations between Israel and such moderate Arab states as Jordan and Egypt, and perhaps the wing of the Palestine Liberation Organization led by P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat. Last week, however, King Hussein turned thumbs down on any such initiative. In a stinging rebuke to Washington, the King told the New York Times: "I now realize that principles mean nothing to the U.S. Short-term issues, especially in election years, prevail."

At the heart of Hussein's concern, as always, was the continuing Israeli occupation of the West Bank. Said the King: "We see things in the following way. Israel is on our land. It is there by virtue of American military and economic aid that translates into aid for Israeli settlements. Israel is there by virtue of American moral and political support to the point where the U.S. is succumbing to Israeli dictates. You obviously have made your choice, and your choice is Israel. Therefore, there is no hope of achieving anything."

The Administration was caught off-balance by the King's harsh remarks, though he had reason to be annoyed at the moment: election-year politics has made the U.S. a maddeningly unreliable friend. The Administration has promised to sell Jordan 1,613 Stinger hand-held antiaircraft missiles and 315 missile launchers for $133 million. In addition, the White House has asked Congress to provide $220 million to equip Jordan with a mobile strike force whose 8,000 troops would be available for putting down trouble in the Persian Gulf states or providing swift defense should the Iran-Iraq war suddenly spill out of the gulf.

Hussein needs the equipment, but he also needs an indication that the U.S. is willing to stand by him, even in an election year, when politicians traditionally are inordinately sensitive to Israel and to its backers in the U.S. And sure enough, a considerable number of Senators and Congressmen have expressed their opposition to the military aid to Jordan, as well as to the sale of 1,200 Stinger missiles and 400 launchers to Saudi Arabia. In fact, one group of Senators has already drafted an amendment forbidding such sales. The amendment might be attached to one or another important piece of legislation pending in Congress, possibly the emergency African food-aid bill, which the Administration strongly supports.

President Reagan has tried hard to get the aid to Jordan approved. When Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir was in Washington last November, Reagan asked him not to oppose the deal. The President last week told a Washington gathering of the United Jewish Appeal that it is in America's interest as well as Israel's to "help meet Jordan's legitimate needs for defense against the growing power of Syria and Iran." Publicly, Administration officials down-played the significance of Hussein's remarks; privately, they resented the King's timing and felt it would make the arms fight in Congress more difficult.

Equally distressing, from King Hussein's viewpoint, is a drive in Congress to force the Administration to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That bill, pressed by Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, has already gained the support of at least 36 Senators and about 200 Congressmen. It is being sold to lawmakers as a triumph of political common sense: Why not move the embassy 40 miles to the city that has been Israel's capital since 1949, and by so doing gladden the hearts of Israelis and their American supporters?

The answer is that such a move would enrage the entire Arab and Islamic world, for which Jerusalem has deep religious significance. Relocating might lead to an outburst of Arab terrorism and anti-Americanism throughout the Middle East. One by one, Administration officials have come forward to warn against the move. Secretary of State George Shultz has cautioned that forcing a "precipitous transfer" of the embassy would be "damaging to the cause of peace." Former State Department Middle East Expert Harold Saunders told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that "the final status of Jerusalem must be negotiated by the parties with interests there, not imposed unilaterally by conquest." U.S. Ambassador to Cairo Nicholas Veliotes told a group of Senators that he hoped they would give him some warning before they passed the Jerusalem bill so he would have enough time to move himself and his staff out of town before the riots started. It is not inconceivable that should the bill become law, the U.S. would be obliged to evacuate embassy dependents from all Arab capitals. Because of the sensitivity of this issue, 44 nations maintain diplomatic missions in Tel Aviv, while only Costa Rica has an embassy in Jerusalem.

In addition to these U.S. domestic matters, Hussein and the other moderate Arabs are increasingly alarmed about the failure of American policy in Lebanon and the degree to which this may embolden Syria to strengthen its position at their expense. The Marines are gone from Beirut, except for a contingent guarding the U.S. embassy; a member of the embassy staff, Political Officer William Buckley, was kidnaped by three men at gunpoint as he left his apartment in West Beirut last Friday morning. Also gone, along with the Marine peace-keeping force, were the Reagan Administration's dreams of helping President Amin Gemayel rebuild his country. The leaders of Lebanon's Muslim and Christian factions met in Lausanne, Switzerland, for a round of reconciliation talks last week, but the only power broker on the premises was Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam. In fact, the Lebanese representatives wryly referred to Khaddam as "the high commissioner," an allusion to the French official who ran Lebanon under a League of Nations mandate before the country gained independence in 1943.

In the elegant Beau Rivage Hotel on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lebanese leaders discussed their problems but had trouble agreeing on anything, including a ceasefire. On Tuesday, when the conference seemed to be ready to postpone that question and get on to other business, former Prime Minister Saeb Salem declared that his wife in Beirut had spent the previous night in a bomb shelter. He had no intention of discussing anything, said Salem, until the conference had at least agreed to a ceasefire. That evening, Salem got his wish. According to Beirut newspapers, it was the 180th official cease-fire to be declared in Lebanon since the civil war broke out in 1975. --By William E. Smith. Reported by Roland Flamini/Lausanne and Johanna McGeary/Washington

With reporting by Roland Flamini/Lausanne, Johanna McGeary/Washington