Word: lebanon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Vance did not come bearing any grand new schemes, and he listened more than he spoke. At each of his stops, his approach was basically the same -except for Lebanon, where he concentrated almost exclusively on the internal problems of that war-torn country. In Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria, he was the persistent interlocutor, running through his list of prepared questions in an attempt to discover new subtleties in the Arab and Israeli positions. How much occupied territory, for example, should Israel relinquish? When and how ought the Geneva talks to be reconvened? What role should...
...pendulum swung back last year in Lebanon. Arafat and the Palestinians misjudged their strength and thereupon entered a losing military and political battle with Syria. They now find themselves dependent on moderate governments in Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile the irrepressible Hussein, who handled his humiliation at Rabat with particular grace, has re-emerged as a force in Arab peace negotiations. Today Hussein sits more securely on his throne, so much so that he has felt strong enough to advocate a Jordanian-Palestinian federation. Arafat is less secure but still a likely choice to head whatever Palestinian state emerges...
...script for Amman, Riyadh and Damascus is a replay of Cairo. Jordan's King Hussein, however, is distracted by grief over the death of his 28-year-old wife Alia, who was killed last week in a helicopter crash. The quick Lebanon stopover-a brief four hours-is purely symbolic: a demonstration of Washington's sympathy for the enormous reconstruction problems facing that war-ravaged country...
...positions have suddenly been reversed. Arafat is in difficulty because his Palestinian forces became too deeply involved in Lebanon's civil war -and on the losing side. Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are privately pressuring the P.L.O. to end the fight against Israel and to accept the West Bank-Gaza state. Hussein figures prominently in these arguments. Last month he was in Aswan at Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's invitation to discuss the proposed linkage with the Palestinians, and before that in Damascus for similar talks with President Hafez Assad. Says one political observer in Amman: "The moderates...
Assad, who moved his troops into Lebanon to end "savage massacres" and remove a roadblock in the way of a Geneva conference, is currently the key figure in the peacemaking. In a 90-minute interview in Damascus with TIME's Wilton Wynn last week, he outlined his views on terms and timing of a settlement, on Palestinian participation, and on the need for the U.S. to be still more evenhanded in its Middle East dealings. Excerpts from the interview...