Word: hafez
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...investment in Middle East stability. The Saudis could play a key role in reconciling the Syrians to the Egyptian design for peace. The Syrian economy is in grave difficulty, with inflation running at 25%. If the Saudis offered major financial backing in return for a Syrian-Egyptian reconciliation, President Hafez Assad might have to assent, no matter how much he dislikes the idea of negotiating with Israel. But Assad's position is a delicate one. He belongs to a minority Muslim sect (the Alawites), and his seven-year-old regime is the longest that Syria has managed since 1946. Should...
...found, the King was determined to remain an uncommitted moderating force, but would probably be prepared to join a Geneva Conference later. Lebanese President Elias Sarkis was swamped with his country's own post-civil war problems. In 4½ hrs. of talks in Damascus, Syria's Hafez Assad reiterated his view that Sadat's initiative would fail, that the Arabs were obliged to reject it on almost theological grounds, and that the "great wound" inflicted by Sadat's Jerusalem adventure would take time to heal...
Embarking on what he called "a mission that may be impossible," Jordan's King Hussein made quick visits to Damascus and Cairo. His aim was to narrow the distance between Sadat and Syria's President Hafez Assad, but there was no evidence that he had made much progress. Assad was also doing some lobbying. After meeting with Hussein, he flew to Riyadh, Kuwait and other gulf states in an effort to talk them out of giving further support to Sadat...
Arab solidarity was indeed in tatters. Sadat's mission had been blessed by the moderate regimes of Morocco, Tunisia and the Sudan. His bankrollers, the Saudis (see box), at least did not say no. But the visit to Israel was denounced by Syrian President Hafez Assad, the Soviet Union, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the main rejection-front states, Iraq, Libya and Algeria. Last week the anti-Sadat forces gathered in Tripoli at the behest of Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, who called the participants the "steadfast states." (Others dubbed the conference the "sorehead summit.") A second meeting...
...speaking to the Knesset, he was also acknowledging Israel's right to consider Jerusalem as its capital (even the U.S. maintains its embassy in Tel Aviv). Attempting to blunt such criticism in advance of his trip, Sadat last week flew to Damascus to confer with Syrian President Hafez Assad, who has been somewhat suspicious of his Arab brother since the second Sinai accord of 1975, through which Egypt regained the Abu Rudeis oilfields...