White House spokesman Ronald Ziegler announced today that King Hussein of Jordan will come to Washington on April 8 and remain for two days as the personal and official guest of President Richard M. Nixon. The Hussein trip was described as a “state visit.” It was pointed out that the visits of Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban to Washington this month did not fall into this category. Mr. Eban came on Israel’s initiative and not in response to an invitation originated by the United States Government. The U.S. took the occasion of the Eban talks to try to persuade the Israeli Government that it had nothing to fear from the Four Power peace concept and to convince Israel to go along with the undertaking, highly placed official sources said.
State Department spokesman Robert J. McCloskey said that Mr. Eban returned to Washington today on his own initiative for another discussion with Secretary of State William P. Rogers before leaving the country. The Administration would again seek to dispel Israel’s concern that an imposed settlement might emerge that would ignore Israel’s security, he said. The State Department was troubled because of recent Israel anti-guerrilla air attacks against Jordanian territory. Officials would like to inhibit such military responses to terrorism and other attacks owing to fears that it might undermine the position of King Hussein prior to his meeting with President Nixon. The department feels that adequate assurances have been given to Israel that any Big Four formula would take into account Israel’s security. It was deemed unlikely that the talks would be Joined by the four nations–the U.S., USSR, France, and Britain–until the Nixon-Hussein discussions were held in Washington on the Mideast situation. White House spokesman Ziegler said that the President and King Hussein would review all aspects of American-Jordanian relations. Mr. Ziegler said he knew of no planned visits by other Arab leaders nor by Mrs. Golda Meir, the new Israeli Premier. Mr. Nixon met with King Hussein in 1959 when he served as Vice-President. The Jordanian ruler made an official visit to the U.S. in 1964 to see then President Johnson. He made two private visits here in 1967.
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