Word: hussein
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Hussein made the announcement in an emotional 3 1/2-hour speech over Jordanian television, addressed to 1.3 million Palestinians in the Israeli- occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as to his own 2.8 million subjects. The King thus broke off a year-old partnership with Arafat in which the two Arab leaders had sought ways to resolve the Palestinian problem through negotiations with Israel. Said the weary Hussein: "Yes, brothers and sisters, we have gone through a grueling year of intensive effort and faced a host of obstacles, in many instances exceeding the limits of our endurance...
...organization agreed to three conditions: endorse United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338, implicitly recognizing Israel's right to exist; be prepared to negotiate with Israel; and renounce terrorism. But Arafat, fearful of creating still another split within his fractured organization, refused to accept the resolutions. Accordingly, an angry Hussein, who thought he had previously reached an agreement with Arafat, announced that he was unable to continue to work with the P.L.O. leaders "until such time as their word becomes their bond, characterized by commitment, credibility and constancy." The sympathies of West Bank Palestinians were torn, as always, between Hussein...
...Even as Hussein was delivering the speech that ended his peace overture, more fighting was going on 100 miles to the northwest. Early last week a Lebanese Muslim fundamentalist group called the Islamic Resistance Front, which is dominated by the Shi'ite Hizballah (Party of God), attacked a small Israeli convoy in southern Lebanon and kidnaped two wounded Israeli soldiers. Within hours, some 1,200 Israeli troops pounded across the border in their biggest operation since their army withdrew from southern Lebanon last June. The mission: not only to find and rescue the two missing Israelis, but to root...
...Peres now faces a political dilemma. Any suggestion that Israel was returning to an "iron fist" policy in southern Lebanon might satisfy his Likud coalition partners. But a prolonged Israeli presence there would anger moderate Arab governments and undermine whatever prospects remain for Middle East peace talks. After King Hussein's announcement, however, those prospects already seemed pale indeed...
...failure of Hussein's initiative leaves behind lots of losers. The Reagan Administration is now without an ongoing peace strategy for the Middle East. Hussein is more vulnerable than ever to the Syrians and to his own Palestinian population. He will probably feel a need to seek closer ties with his old adversary Syrian President Hafez Assad. The breakdown in talks may precipitate a new round of violence by Palestinians, who see diplomacy failing once again to resolve their problems. And it vastly increases the likelihood that Peres will be obliged to exchange jobs in the fall with Foreign Minister...