A King Talks of Peace

For Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, last week's visit by King Hussein of Jordan was another step toward ending Egypt's isolation within the Arab world, which began when President Anwar Sadat accepted the Camp David accords and subsequently signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. For the Jordanian monarch, the three-day visit was aimed at forging a moderate Arab consensus in the Middle East. His plan: to convene a peace conference of all those with a stake in the region, including the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Soviet Union.

Although the two leaders agreed on the need for peace talks, they seemed to be at odds over the subject of the Camp David accords, which Hussein continues to oppose, even to the extent of declining to lay a wreath at Sadat's grave. Complained the King: "It eliminated the P.L.O. from the peace process."

Hussein's current plan would seem to have no chance of success. Both the U.S. and Israel have opposed a conference that would include Moscow, and Israel has refused to negotiate with the P.L.O. In Israel, Prime Minister Shimon Peres urged Hussein to drop the proposal and instead to meet directly with him.