President Anwar Sadat believes that the Arab rejectionist front aimed against Egypt because of its peace agreement with Israel has crumbled, little more than a year after it was formed. The “united front” has collapsed, he said in an interview with People magazine this week.
“Look what has happened to them since they cut relations with me. Only 15 months ago they were one united front. Now Iraq and Iran are killing each other off. Iraq has severed relations with Libya and Syria. Saudi Arabia has severed relations with Libya. Can you name two countries who will sit down together in order to make an alliance against Sadat?” the Egyptian leader asked.
Sadat’s view of the disarray seems to be borne out by reports from Amman that Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat is seeking to postpone the 16-nation meeting of Arab leaders due to open in Ammon Nov. 25. So far, only Syria supports delay. Jordan appears eager to proceed with the Arab summit, planned originally to agree on a common economic and political strategy against Israel’s West Bank policies.
But the eight-week-old Iraqi-Iranian war has created a schism between the Arab countries. Arafat, who is dependent an inter-Arab unity to achieve his political aims, appears fearful that under present conditions the summit will fail. He is currently shuttling between Arab capitals in the hope of persuading the leaders to abandon the planned meeting for the time being.
What complicates the situation is Syrian and Libyan support of Iran while Jordan has sided openly with Iraq. Saudi Arabia and the other Arab Gulf states are officially neutral but wary of the repercussions of the Islamic revolution in Iran. They are being wooed intensively by Iraq. Iraq and Saudi Arabia reportedly favor holding the summit meeting as scheduled.
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