Middle East: Picking Up the Pieces

Brief as it was, the Middle East war took a heavy toll in Arab lives (22,000) and Arab real estate (30,000 sq. mi.). But the impact of those losses was small compared with the crippling economic aftermath of defeat. Last week, from one end of the Arab world to the other, government radios wove into their continuing threats and recriminations warnings of the "sacrifices" and "hard times" that lie ahead as the Arabs pick up the pieces.

In Egypt, the disappearance of tourists is costing Nasser $1,500,000 a week; the closing of the Suez Canal subtracts another $5,000,000. Even if the canal reopens, Cairo's ban on U.S., British and West German shipping will still deprive the government of $1,000,000 a week in tolls. Then there is cotton, Egypt's second biggest foreign-exchange earner after the canal. Because there is no money to spare for urgently needed insecticides, leafworms threaten to wipe out 30% of this year's crop. In desperation, the government sent almost 500,000 schoolchildren into the fields last week to pick leafworms off the plants. "We have yet another aggression on our hands," noted Cairo's weekly Rose Al Youssef wryly. "We must mobilize."

Blood Money. Thus far, Russia and its Eastern European allies have been too busy supplying arms to pay much attention to Egypt's other urgent needs. In an effort to head off total economic collapse, Nasser has had to hit his Arab "friends" for "contributions," which in most cases amount to little more than blood money. He got $28 million from neighboring Libya, which has been fighting a long, losing battle with Egyptian terrorists. He picked up another $28 million from Kuwait, and $20 million more from "private individuals"—half of that amount, a $10 million interest-free "loan" from Saudi Arabia's ex-King Saud, as part of the political rent he pays for his Egyptian asylum.

Few other Arab nations were in any position to help Nasser—or themselves. As a result of the Middle East oil embargo (see WORLD BUSINESS), Iraq's gold reserves are expected to dip perilously low. In Syria, which lost the vital revenues from two oil pipelines, the capital city of Damascus began rationing food last week. Lebanon's $85 million-a-year tourist industry, meantime, has all but dried up. Hardest hit is Jordan: it lost not only the tourist-rich Old City of Jerusalem but, at least for the time being, the agricultural lands on the west bank of the Jordan River. In Washington last week, King Hussein did not have to remind President Johnson that even in the best of times, his country has needed an annual U.S. budget subsidy of $30 million to $34 million.