Middle East: The King Says, Not Yet

Hussein demands Israeli concessions and the P.L.O. 's support

He is sometimes described by tabloid newspaper writers as "the plucky little King," but he is known to old Middle East hands as an accomplished tactician who has managed to hold on to the precarious throne of Jordan for the past 30 years. Last week King Hussein went to Washington for what the U.S. hoped would be a significant and perhaps historic meeting with President Reagan. There was a possibility that Hussein would announce, while still in Washington, that he was ready at last to join the Middle East peace negotiations that Israel and Egypt began in 1979. But it did not work out quite that way. Hussein told the President that he was not yet in a position to take part in the talks, although he held out the hope that he might soon be able to do so.

The King's position at first appeared to be a disappointment for the Reagan Administration. The President had hoped that his proposals of last September, in which he called for a future relationship between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, would lead to broader Arab participation in the peace process. He had also been encouraged by the Arab summit conference at Fez, Morocco, later in September, when there seemed to be interest in some aspects of the Reagan plan. More to the point, the Arab summit, by guaranteeing peace for "all states of the region," went a long way toward acknowledging Israel's right to exist. Finally, the President was aware that Hussein and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat had talked at length about future ties between the West Bank and Jordan.

The chief reason Hussein offered last week for his reluctance to join negotiations was that he could not be expected to make concessions at a time when Israel was aggressively pressing ahead with the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In fact, the government of Prime Minister Menachem Begin may be quite pleased with the Arabs' continuing refusal to negotiate. This gives the Israelis an excuse to proceed with their settlements program and to denounce the Reagan plan, which the Israeli government has opposed from the beginning.

To Reagan and his Secretary of State, George Shultz, the signs had been unusually auspicious. Hussein had publicly interpreted the Fez summit communique as a tacit recognition of Israel. During the past year he had repeatedly advised the P.L.O. that no Middle East settlement was possible without recognition of Israel. He had also sought a mandate from Arafat to join the negotiations on the P.L.O.'s behalf. Administration officials noted that, even as Hussein was conferring with Reagan last week, a chief aide to Arafat, Khalid al Hassan, was staying at the same hotel as Hussein and was being kept informed of the discussions by the Jordanian delegation. For once, the signs of a genuine breakthrough appeared to be at hand.