‘al Ahram’ Warns ‘war a Certainty’ Unless Fast International Action is Taken

The authoritative Cairo newspaper Al Ahram warned yesterday that the “eruption of war is a certainty” in the Middle East unless there is fast international action to avoid it. The paper, which is considered to reflect the views of the Egyptian Government and President Gamal Abdel Nasser, issued the warning in the context of a report on current Big Power contacts aimed at working out a formula for settling the Middle East crisis.

The paper reported that Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad would fly to Belgrade this week to deliver an “important message” from President Nasser to President Tito of Yugoslavia. The message will deal with the “probabilities of the explosive situation,” Al Ahram said. The newspaper warned that Israel might “risk launching a grave adventure in the hope of forcing its friends into re-assuming a position of unreserved support and barring any big power accord on the Middle East.”

King Hussein of Jordan, who arrived here for medical treatment today, hinted that he would welcome Big Power intervention in the Middle East dispute. “I believe that if we are able to move with the help of the rest of the world toward accepting as a whole the principles of the Security Council (Nov. 22, 1967) resolution we might be well on the way toward peaceful co-existence,” he told newsmen. According to reports from Beirut where the Jordanian ruler stopped off earlier for a two-hour meeting with President Charles Helou of Lebanon, King Hussein warned that “if the situation deteriorates any further it will affect world peace” and expressed the hope that “the great powers will take a closer look at what is happening here.”