Opportunity and Peril

Beirut's crisis could lead to the solution of a larger Middle East problem

Physically, emotionally and politically they made a diplomatic odd couple. Towering Prince Saud al Faisal, elegantly attired in thobe and ghitrah, represented with cool reserve the oil-rich monarchy of Saudi Arabia; Abdel Halim Khaddam, a diminutive figure in an ill-fitting business suit, spoke excitedly and volubly for hard-line Syria, backed by the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, as Arab Foreign Ministers they found themselves calling together at the State Department and the Oval Office last week.

Their visit symbolized a rare diplomatic opportunity that the U.S. has not so much acquired as fallen into. Israel's invasion of Lebanon has shattered old power equations and political lineups in the Middle East in such a way as to leave all parties in the area looking to Washington for help in averting a new explosion. Both moderate and radical Arabs hope that the U.S. can restrain Israel from a final assault on West Beirut; Israel is waiting impatiently for the U.S. to negotiate a pull-out of Palestine Liberation Organization guerrilla fighters from the besieged city.

American policymakers, for their part, see a new chance to use the leverage that the Beirut crisis has given them to prod both sides toward the solution of a larger Middle East problem: the status of the Palestinians, who yearn for a homeland in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under heavy pressure from Arabs and some Europeans, the U.S. is considering the possibility of negotiating directly with the P.L.O., in return for an open declaration by the P.L.O. that it recognizes Israel's right to exist as a state. The hope: that Prime Minister Menachem Begin might then be convinced that a P.L.O. no longer dedicated to Israel's destruction should be brought into negotiations that look toward some form of self-determination for the Palestinians.

Even if the U.S. should decide to try for a deal with the P.L.O., it is highly problematic whether one could be struck. Although P.L.O. Chief Yasser Arafat has hinted privately that the P.L.O. might be ready to recognize Israel, his position has generally fallen far short of the unequivocal public declaration the U.S. would demand. Hopes for a deal rose somewhat on Sunday when Arafat signed a document accepting "all U.N. resolutions relevant to the Palestinian question." California Republican Paul N. McCloskey Jr., visiting Beirut with five other Congressmen, said that the P.L.O. leader in effect had recognized Israel's right to exist. By doing so, McCloskey said, Arafat had cleared the way for direct negotiations with the U.S. McCloskey told reporters that he would urge Secretary of State George Shultz to begin talks with the P.L.O. as soon as possible.