MIDDLE EAST: The Protector of Islam

• Share

The first round was over in the Middle East.

Jordan's 21-year-old King Hussein boldly announced: "The crisis in Jordan is ended," relaxed the daytime curfew, and set out to try about 100 "Communists and fellow travelers" under martial law for seeking his overthrow. The U.S. Sixth Fleet wheeled round off Beirut and sailed away for the western Mediterranean, having made its point and enjoyed its shore leave. Eisenhower's Special Ambassador to the Middle East, ex-Congressman James P. Richards, after a last visit to Israel headed for home. Left glumly isolated and defeated in the first round, the Egyptian and Syrian press and radio suddenly piped down on their inflammatory propaganda against Jordan.*

As things temporarily quieted down, it became increasingly clear that the pivotal behavior of one man played a large part in rescuing young King Hussein from Nasser and his hotbloods. The man: King Saud of Saudi Arabia, Protector of Islam's Holy Places. From the moment Nasser seized and then blocked the Suez Canal, casually cutting off much of Saudi Arabia's oil income in the process, Saud began to see that there would be no place for him or any king in the Arab "nation" Nasser talked about. Nor could Saud abide the sight of Communist influence that Nasser had brought into the Middle East. Saud's visit to the U.S. last February did not so much convert as confirm him in his attitude. As soon as King Hussein proved ready to stand up for himself, Saud invited him to Riyadh and gave him money, arms and solid diplomatic support.

To Assassinate an Ally. Out of secretive Saudi Arabia last week came a well authenticated story of the risk that King Saud himself took in doing so. Saudi security police in Riyadh arrested a gang of ex-Palestinian and Egyptian plotters armed with guns, grenades and explosives. The men admitted planning the King's assassination, and were said to have implicated Egypt's military attaché, Colonel Ali Khashaba. The King's reaction was to kick out a flock of Egyptians and ex-Palestinians (who in his illiterate country dominate administration services and the schools). Then he backed Hussein to the limit.

It was at his telephoned insistence that Syria's President Kuwatly—accompanied by Nasser's top aide, Ali Sabri—journeyed to Riyadh, where the desert King lectured the two of them like a displeased father and more or less ordered them to stop interfering in Jordan's "strictly internal" affairs. No sooner had they left (without even the formality of the usual communique praising Arab "unity"), than Saud got on the phone again to invite Hussein to Riyadh. Hussein hustled down by air last week, and King Saud gave him a big pep talk on the importance of keeping up the good fight against Communists and extremists. He sent him back to Amman with a large gift of money (according to one source, $5,000,000).

To Submerge a Feud. Later this month King Saud will visit Baghdad to see Iraq's 22-year-old King Feisal, and perhaps his Hashemite cousin, Hussein of Jordan, too. Together these three Kings control a huge hunk of the Arab Middle East and the vast bulk of its economic resources. If Saud can submerge his old feuds with the Hashemites, an effective counterweight to Nasser (and to his lone ally, Syria) will have been built up in the Arab world itself.