Egypt Will Support New Summit Conference to Deal with Arab-israel Dispute

An Egyptian spokesman said Thursday that Egypt will support Jordan’s proposal for a new Arab summit conference to map future strategy in the Arab-Israel conflict, it was reported here from Cairo. Prime Minister Bahjat al Talhouni and Foreign Minister Abdel Moneim Rifai of Jordan conferred for more than two hours yesterday with President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. They reportedly delivered a message from King Hussein urging a new summit meeting. The Jordanian ministers earlier visited King Faisal of Saudi Arabia on the same subject and said they had “successful” talks with him. According to dispatches from Damascus, the ruling Baathist Party has declared that Syria will boycott an Arab summit meeting.

(Faisal is urging the Arabs to settle their dispute with Israel by force but Nasser and Hussein cling to the hope of a political solution and are striving to keep alive the mission of United Nations special envoy, Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring, the London Guardian reported from Beirut yesterday. The newspaper said Faisal is unalterably opposed to a new summit conference. In a memorandum to the Arab League last month, he urged Arabs to stop listening to “the hackneyed tune of political or peaceful resolutions” and to give “all-out support to Palestinian guerrillas and settle the issue by force.”)

Middle East diplomatic observers believe Faisal’s approval is necessary for any Arab summit because his treasury, together with Kuwait and Libya, have subsidized the Egyptian and Jordanian economies since the Six-Day War. Faisal has said he would attend a new summit session only if the Arabs publicly declared that the Jarring mission has failed. Iraq is believed to be unenthusiastic about a summit parley.