LEBANON: ALONG THE ARAFAT TRAIL

NOTHING, it seemed, could halt the bloody feud between the army of Lebanon and the Palestinian Al-Fatah guerrillas—not the intervention of Gamal Abdel Nasser, not the warnings of the U.S. and the Soviet Union, not the menace of an uneasy Israel. From Tripoli south to Sidon, from dusty villages on the edge of the Mount Hermon massif in the east to the fashionable sea front of Beirut in the west, violence continued as Arab fought Arab. In Tripoli alone, at least 18 were dead.

At issue was a question that may yet haunt other Arab governments as the guerrillas grow stronger or bolder: Where, and in what numbers, should the fedayeen be allowed to operate in their "war to the death" against Israel? Jordan's King Hussein confronted the guerrillas over the issue and ultimately backed down, giving them virtually a free hand in his border areas. Two weeks ago, the issue brought violence to Lebanon when the army cracked down on the fedayeen for having moved into populated areas supposedly barred to them under an earlier agreement.

Minus the Trademark. Initially, Arab leaders took the fedayeen's side. Many openly roasted Lebanon's President Charles Helou for refusing to allow them free movement. But last week, shocked that the crisis showed no signs of letup, the Arabs grew uneasy. Nasser invited both sides to conciliatory talks. Lebanese Army Chief Emile Bustani promptly flew into Cairo with proposals for a truce. In agreeing to the meeting, Helou insisted that "Lebanon's sovereignty should not be less than that of any other Arab state." In other words, he still wanted final say about where the guerrillas should operate.

Al-Fatah Leader Yasser Arafat, on the other hand, decided to milk world opinion before attending the Cairo meeting. He first flew to Damascus, where he persuaded his compliant Syrian hosts to suspend their rule barring Lebanese and Western newsmen from the country. As a result, Arafat had a sizable EastWest audience for the first formal press conference he has ever held. Oozing confidence, the guerrilla leader strode into the Damascus University law-school auditorium wearing a five-day growth of beard but without the tinted wraparound sunglasses that have become something of a trademark.

Arafat breathed fiery defiance. "Arab revolutionaries have a right to fight anywhere," he said. He insisted that "American imperialism is behind all actions hostile to the Arab nation." Playing on the pride of the Lebanese in their business acumen, he warned that unless Israel is wiped out, "it is bound to be proved that Israelis are better businessmen than Lebanese."

Customary Insouciance. There was still scattered terrorism in spite of the maneuvering in Cairo. Near Sidon, an oil-storage tank belonging to the TransArabian Pipe Line Co., a U.S. oil subsidiary, was spectacularly set ablaze. In Beirut, dynamite charges exploded harmlessly outside the Phoenicia Hotel and on Hamra, the principal shopping street. But in cities and refugee camps, riots and sniper attacks seemed to be abating, and discussions between Helou and Lebanese Moslem leaders replaced the angry recriminations of the week before.