Word: nasser
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Pugnacious Poem. The tie with Yemen had been bizarre from the first. Nasser had hoped to reform the Stone Age kingdom and make it part of a Pan-Arab nation; Yemen's wily old Imam simply hoped to pry as much cash as possible out of Nasser without changing his country (where slavery, public flogging and eye-for-an-eye justice are still practiced). The Imam dodged all meetings with Nasser, barred the twelve-member U.A.R. committee from convening in Yemen, and tore up all of its recommendations for reform. He was unimpressed when, in his new drive...
After Syria's breakaway last September, the three-year-old United Arab States consisted only of two members-Egypt and tiny, backward Yemen. Last week, Nasser kicked out Yemen. With Egypt thus turned into a federation of one but still clinging to the now meaningless title of United Arab Republic, Nasser promised new glories for "Arab socialism," started off by lavishly insulting his old Arab enemies and generally agitating the Middle East...
...ditty fell into Nasser's hands and he exploded. Speaking at Port Said last week, Nasser lumped the Imam with Jordan's King Hussein and Saudi Arabia's King Saud as "reactionaries," and accused them of fostering conditions that are an affront to "the law of justice and the law of God." Said Nasser: "We shall have genuine class equality. Political freedom is nonsense without freedom from feudalism and capitalism ... If social justice is applied in Saudi Arabia, how can King Saud finance his harem and his slaves?" Stabbing the air with his fingers and pursing...
Having thus done his bit for Arab unity, Nasser struck out in other directions...
...though, we all have to live with what is an extremely touchy situation and do whatever we can to reduce tension between Israel and the Arabs. In all fairness to King Hussein's government (which, after all, American Zionists don't seem to mind nearly as much as, say, Nasser's) they may have reasoned that the Palestine refugees, who constitute nearly half the population, are so afraid of "International Zionism" that it would be difficult to protect U.S. Jews from their outbursts. I remember telling a Palestinian friend now in Amman that Jordan might persuade some Americans to modify...