DIPLOMACY: A Triumphant Middle East Hegira

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Nixon's trip involved risks, of course, not the least of which was the danger of an assassin's bullet. On the President's first day in Egypt, Palestinian terrorists on a suicide mission raided an Israeli farming settlement and killed three women (see THE WORLD). Said a terrorist spokesman: "This is how every Arab should receive Nixon, the chief imperialist in the world." There were fears that there might be further terrorist "spectaculars" this week during the Israeli and Jordanian portions of the tour, and everywhere Nixon went security precautions were extraordinary.

Long before Nixon set out on his trip, teams of U.S. security experts were touring the capitals of the countries that he would visit, working out the intricate details of protecting him from attack. Acutely mindful of their responsibilities, the host countries mobilized hordes of police, soldiers and security agents to guard the President. A phalanx of Secret Service agents traveled with Nixon, some always at his side, others riding in cars close behind, their eyes constantly roving over the crowds that lined the way. But there was no gainsaying the fact that during many parts of his tour the President was an easy target as he stood erect in open cars to wave at the crowds.

That his welcome was so resonant everywhere reflected the success of Henry Kissinger in disengaging the combatants of the region's October war. Kissinger's diplomacy, first between Egypt and Israel, then between Syria and Israel, had achieved not only a truce but also the beginnings of trust that a solution might be found to the animosity that has blanketed the area in the quarter-century since the creation of Israel. That trust, for now at least, rests largely in the power of the U.S., which Nixon, for all his difficulties at home, still embodies. Nixon's visit, as Alexander Haig, his chief of staff, puts it, "is designed to anneal what has already happened, to reassure both sides of our willingness to play a constructive role, while realizing that it's a matter for the parties themselves to work out."

For much of the trip, Kissinger seemed unable to savor his contribution to Nixon's triumph. He was morose and uncharacteristically aloof, having threatened to resign on the eve of the flight to Cairo over the continuing accusations that he was less than truthful about his role in national-security wiretapping (see following story). That was unfortunate, since the changes in the Middle East have been nothing short of astonishing since Kissinger went to work in the wake of the October war. Eight months ago, Egyptians regarded Nixon as the villain who was sending Phantom jets to the Israelis. Now Sadat has gone so far as to say that the impeachment of Nixon "would be a tragedy." A U.S. Navy task force has just completed a minesweeping operation to reopen the Suez Canal, closed since the 1967 war. Syria, still tied to the Russians by arms and economic aid, not long ago was denouncing the U.S. as its archenemy and an agent of Zionism. After the October war, Saudi Arabia led the move to cut off oil to the U.S. in retaliation for American support of Israel.