DIPLOMACY: A Triumphant Middle East Hegira

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ISRAEL. While President Nixon was visiting Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria, no one was following his progress more anxiously than Premier Yitzhak Rabin and the other members of Israel's new government. From the moment he was due to arrive at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday afternoon, Nixon had the job of persuading the Israelis that he had not sold them out to buy favor with the Arabs.

During their official talks, the President was expected to try to soothe concerns about the proposed nuclear aid to the Egyptians by making a similar offer to the Israelis. (Israel has been getting U.S. help in nuclear research since 1955, but no materials.) Rabin hoped that Nixon would announce a new and long-term program of military and financial aid for his country to balance the new support going to the Arabs. The Israelis had good reason to believe that Nixon would be sympathetic to their case. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has received $5.6 billion in aid from the U.S. Government—nearly $3 billion since Nixon took office.

To protect their guest, the Israelis organized the most intensive security system in their history. Communications gear and bulletproof limousines were flown into the country by U.S. Air Force transports. An army of 19,000 policemen, soldiers and government agents were on guard. Troops lined the 32-mile route from the airport to Jerusalem. A cordon sanitaire encircled every area that the President visited. His movements were shadowed by three helicopters—a command center, a troop carrier and a flying medical team.

The Israelis virtually cleared out the entire 250-room King David Hotel for the Nixon party. One guest who was allowed to stay: a 93-year-old American woman who was conducting research in history and was deemed to be no security threat. Also emptied was the 110-room Y.M.C.A. across the street. In the King David (code-named "Beehive"), the Nixons occupied the presidential suite on the sixth floor, which was Kissinger's quarters when he was flying his diplomatic shuttle between Jerusalem and Damascus. This time the Secretary was relegated to a lower floor. Everything was as ready for Nixon as a sprinter on his blocks. Even the Beehive's chef was well briefed: he had been advised of the President's predilection for cottage cheese.

Balancing Act. From Israel, Nixon was scheduled to stop in Jordan for 24 hours to visit with King Hussein.

Whatever plans other Arabs have for Jordan's West Bank, the territory once belonged to Jordan, and Hussein wants to talk to Nixon about his hopes for getting it back. The President was due in Washington on Wednesday. He will be in the U.S. only eight days before emplaning for Moscow and yet another round of summitry. He got a welcome card of sorts last week from Soviet Party Chairman Leonid Brezhnev, who declared that his country was ready to join with the U.S. in a ban on all underground nuclear testing.