Hussein Reshuffles Cabinet; Five New Ministers Have Confidence of Guerrilla Movement

King Hussein, of Jordan has reportedly reshuffled his cabinet in the wake of four days of anti-American rioting in Amman which aborted a scheduled visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Joseph J. Sisco. The realignment will please the Palestinian commandos, already flushed with victory over the ouster of U.S. Ambassador Harrison Symes, political observers said. King Hussein demanded Mr. Symes’ recall after he advised Mr. Sisco to stay away from Amman where mobs burned the U.S. Information Agency offices, stoned the U.S. Embassy and wrecked four Embassy cars last week. Washington has demanded full and prompt compensation for damage to American property estimated at $100,000. Some 10,000 books in the USIA library were destroyed. Five new cabinet ministers have been named in Amman, all of them said to have the confidence of the guerrilla movement. The new Jordanian Chief of Staff, Mashour Haditheh, was described as a moderate pro-guerrilla.

The events in Jordan during the past week indicated the power of the various Palestinian fedayeen bands, now more or less combined in the Palestine Armed Struggle Command headed by El Fatah chief, Yassir Arafat, and the virtual helplessness of the Hussein government to control its own population. The commandos regard the cancellation of the Sisco visit as a major political victory over the United States. Some observers believe that the commando movement that has paralyzed any peace moves by King Hussein could also prevent President Nasser from reaching a peaceful settlement with Israel should he ever indicate such a desire. The Sisco affair has brought the first hints of public Palestinian criticism of Nasser. The guerrilla command in Amman referred to “capitals so eager to have a political settlement,” an apparent reference to Cairo where Mr. Sisco spent four days in talks with Egyptian leaders. The commando position is that there can be no peace with Israel and that the Israeli state must be liquidated. One guerrilla spokesman warned last week that any Arab government leader who moves toward peace with Israel will be signing his own death warrant. Although commando-government confrontations have been limited so far to Jordan and Lebanon, observers believe it could also occur in Egypt with much more serious consequences if talk of a political settlement grows stronger.