ON THE MARCH

...Now the new Arab nationalism and its hero are stronger, and the West has fewer allies in the area than ever before...

...Since the foreign trade of every nation in the area was greater by far with Europe than with any of its neighbors, could they ever build a strong economic inter-relationship...

...The Dulles demand for 100 per cent support in his anti-Communist crusade has backfired...

...Kamal Jumblatt, the Druse chieftain who headed the Progressive Socialist Party, Fuad Amoun, a Christian former director-general of the foreign ministry, and Hamid Franghi, a powerful Christian tribal leader, were among those who were neither pro-Nasser nor anti-Western...

...Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, and the subsequent surprise in the West at the great skill with which the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority operated the waterway, was a great emotional lift to the Arabs...

...Today, only the victories remain as mementoes of Suez...

...It is difficult to forecast with precision immediate developments within the Arab nationalist movement, but one thing is obvious: American and British reactions to events in the area since May have helped telescope to within a period of a few weeks trends which might have taken years to evolve...

...In many government offices there was resentment when it became clear that Egypt was wearing the pants in this marriage...

...Even Jumblatt and Fuad Amoun are now less neutral on this issue than they were when the struggle with Cha-moun had only pseudo-ideological manifestations...

...The climax in Nasser's rise to leadership of the Arab world came with the joint Israel, British, and French attack on Egypt in 1956...

...Some 70 per cent of its annual oil revenues were being used for development projects on an engineering level—large scale construction of bridges, roads, irrigation schemes, and the like...

...The first shock occurred in February, 1958, when union between Egypt and Syria became an actuality instead of a vague aspiration...

...When large numbers of Egyptian officers and army units moved into the Syrian city of Aleppo to effect the unification, there were clashes with civilians...

...General Assembly on August 21, which again presented Nasser an opportunity for "statesmanship...

...The reasons for Nasser's popularity are quite apparent...

...Secretary-General Dag Hammar-skjold, enabled the U.S...

...The benefits of development were not filtering down to ordinary Iraqis at a rapid enough rate...

...ARAB NATIONALISM On fhe March by DON PERETZ Beirut Eearly this year there was hardly an observer of the Middle East who believed that unity was a goal attainable at mid-Twentieth Century by the Arab nationalist movement...

...Yet only half a year later, blocking that "threat" seems to have been given an urgent priority by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles...

...Without the great popular support Nasser enjoyed, his agents would have been ineffectual, or at worst, unpleasant annoyances...

...Other aspects of the new Arab nationalism somehow seemed to escape their attention...

...it was not at all easy...

...We accepted unity without seeing anything and without studying anything...

...He personally symbolizes the first complete success of neo-Arab nationalism...

...The union had taken place, he said, "on the basis that there is no difference between the Arab people in Egypt and the Arab people in Syria...

...Each had a republican form of government...

...Since then his parleys with the Indian prime minister and Marshal Tito have shown Arab nationalists that "their leader" has become an important international figure...

...There were no dynastic rivalries to overcome...

...Dulles—the best of which was to recognize the new Arab nationalism and its penchant for neutralism...

...Would Lebanon's economy, supporting a population whose annual per capita income was two to three times as great as that of Egypt or Iraq, ever find common ground with either of these competitors for Arab world leadership...

...The revolutionary regime in Egypt was the first to use successfully terms such as "socialism," "popular democracy," and to attack "exploiting capitalists...

...They, like the middle class youth throughout the Arab world, were infatuated with the new Arab nationalism, and since their own government and its leaders gave little heed to the trend of events, they turned elsewhere for leadership...

...This is not to say that sentiment for a greater Arab state or federation did not exist...

...Any hope for "checking Nasserism" which might have inspired the landing of British and American troops in the Middle East was completely undermined by the ten-nation Arab resolution passed by the U.N...

...Their choice is to rely for continued life on American and British support, or to take their chances with popular feeling and its enthusiastic emotional attachment to the new Arab nationalism...

...But as the current year began, the practical obstacles to unity seemed insurmountable within the foreseeable future...

...Since the government was receiving arms and munitions from the United States, they argued, why should they reject offers from outside the country's borders if no strings were attached...

...At the end of July, Lebanon was still not likely to become part of a greater Arab state or federation, although involved in a civil war in which Christian-Muslim relationships and Arab nationalism had come to play important roles...

...Both were in the same international political camp...

...The battles in Sinai are all but forgotten...

...Little, far too little, attention was paid to land redistribution, extension of credit to peasants, formation of agricultural cooperatives, establishment of new housing projects, and schools...

...The Palestine Arabs, who constitute about two thirds of the country's population, especially sought a leader who represented, and articulated in terms which appealed to them, the doctrine of reform, Arab unity, anti-imperialism, and revenge against the West for its role in Palestine...

...The small group of powerful landlords who ran the country, and who had a vested interest in maintaining the old regime, were also Arab nationalists, but their nationalism consisted of issuing fierce statements against communism, Israel, and Zionism...

...In Cairo the demonstrations celebrating the union were mild and life went on normally...

...These were the rallying cries of the "pro-Nasserists," who, in the minds of Iraq's rulers, were identified with communism...

...Only the governments of Egypt and Syria had taken overtly hostile stands against the West, in their declarations of "positive neutralism...

...There was an exchange of visits by Syrian and Egyptian political leaders, and prolonged discussions in attempts to thrash out the obvious difficulties which President Nasser acknowledged existed in his speech commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution...

...Merchants in the town were more favorably disposed to an alliance with Iraq where they had close business connections...

...To those at the top in the State Department the coup was another "Nasser-Communist machination," but informed men in lower echelons and in the field could find no evidence indicating that either Nasser or foreign Communists had sparked the revolt in Bagdad...

...On paper, the nations favoring the West outnumbered those calling themselves "positive neutralists...

...Federation or union are still remote possibilities, but certainly closer ties with the UAR in the near future, despite the arrival of American troops, are in the cards...

...Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan also have radio stations which have not refrained from counter-attacking in terms as vitriolic as Nasser's...

...He served on the panel on the Palestine refugee problem for the Institute for Mediterranean Affairs and until recently was a staff consultant to the American Jewish Committee...

...There were clashes between the supporters of monarchy versus the republicans...

...He became an active participant in the conflict giving much assistance—most of it indirect—to the Lebanese opposition...

...Of course, Nasser bore some indirect responsibility...

...Most reports from the area indicate that the February event was almost as much a surprise to President Nasser as it was to those who learned about it from abroad...

...Under his leadership Egypt became the first Arab nation to adopt its credo, its slogans, and its programs...

...After the troops landed, the issue was clear cut—either you were opposed to Nasser and supported the government, or you were pro-Nasser and opposed the government...

...Real obstacles such as those which Norman Thomas and I had discussed with both the ardent and the not so ardent proponents of the merger did exist...

...Two of the four vice-presidents were Syrians...

...They said little about reform, little about Arab unity, and were anti-neutralist...

...But there is no doubt that as recently as three months before the affair between Egypt and Syria was consummated in marriage, the Egyptians viewed union as a rather remote goal whereas the Syrians were all out for "Union Now...

...What about government and military pay differentials that result from the much higher Syrian standard of living...

...Many of the more noncommittal of the Lebanese opposition leaders have been forced to take sides since the end of July...

...But in Damascus obviously spontaneous mass demonstrations greeted the end of Syria's existence as a separate political entity...

...Indications are that the threat of a Communist or pro-Communist coup precipitated the hasty change in Egyptian attitude...

...It was discovered that there was a deficit in the Syrian budget . . . that Syria's reserves had been spent...

...Neither became a principal participant in shaping overall UAR policy...

...It was the first Arab nation to publicize an extensive reform hitting directly at the powerful landlord class by requisition of large estates...

...And surprisingly, their ranks were swelled by hundreds of thousands of Lebanese who poured across the border to welcome "their hero," for by now Nasser had become as much a symbol of Arab nationalism as an Egyptian leader...

...This would not necessarily have meant all-out support for Nasser...

...Lebanon was the first Arab nation to back the Eisenhower Doctrine in 1957...

...Within the Arab League various regional economic, social welfare, and other projects were being considered...

...Support for such a goal was pervasive in the Arab world...

...The Czech arms deal was a particularly brilliant plume added to Nasser's symbols of victory...

...But his effect on events there was at best that of a catalyst setting off an already existing explosive situation...

...Ethnic and religious jealousies brewed beneath the surface...

...some were even extremely critical of Nasser...

...Although some observers viewed the new situation as merely an extension of Egyptian hegemony over Syria—a kind of "Nasser Imperialism"—this was not politically the case...

...Egyptians generally continued to be far less enthusiastic about the union than Syrians, Iraqis, Jordanians, or even than Lebanese...

...They also have funds at their disposal to organize counter-networks...

...Arab unity or alliance with Nasser was still not a primary war aim of the opposition...

...Economic disparities—in standards of living, markets, methods of economic organization and control—seemed to loom large...

...there are other forces in the area which represented the same dynamic, but they were not in power and therefore not endowed with the great popularity of the UAR President...

...Death and disease rates and the maldistribution of wealth were comparable to pre-revolutionary Egypt...

...Egypt's military defeats in Sinai were more than recouped by Nasser's subsequent political victories...

...But their activities failed to arouse popular enthusiasm despite their use of the same cliches, vituperation, and inflammatory diatribes...

...In Jordan as in Iraq the new nationalists turned to Egypt's President Nasser as their leader...

...When the all-UAR cabinet was formed, only one of the dozen or so members was a Syrian...

...In Jordan there is evidence that Egypt's role was more direct, but even there, greatest emphasis must be placed upon its importance as a catalytic agent rather than that of its secret agents...

...Nor was it created by Radio Cairo or the network of agents which the revolutionary government has scattered through the Arab world...

...But it was not until the issue was injected into relations between the President and the opposition by government leaders themselves that it became explosive...

...Egypt became the first Arab nation to overthrow a monarchy symbolic of the old regime and its evils...

...President Nasser and other Egyptians with whom Norman Thomas and I spoke during a trip to the Middle East last November discussed Arab unity as an ideal to be realized far in the future, when the practical details could be worked out...

...Our failure to recognize the internal aspect of the fight and to use it as a weapon against the policy of Egypt's President helped move it in that direction...

...It is ironic that the latter's policies have contributed greatly to solidifying this "threat...

...President Cha-moun and his opponents originally clashed over personalities and internal political squabbles for power, influence, and the material benefits of office...

...Antagonisms among these various governments were compounded by dynastic rivalries between the Saudis of Arabia and the Hashemites ruling in Jordan and Iraq...

...It is true that within the present decade there had been perceptible movements in the direction of Arab unity...

...In Saudi Arabia there were large American air bases...

...University students, intellectuals, junior officials, and the youth of most Arab lands east of Libya had become ardent enthusiasts of the unity concept...

...Of course, there were alternatives open to Mr...

...Our Syrian friends, on the other hand, were eager for an immediate amalgamation...

...Since it showed that the Arab states were basically united when it came to foreign intervention, the resolution was a great victory for the nationalism which Secretary Dulles has been trying to "contain...

...In Lebanon the inevitable is not quite so certain...

...Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Jordan had signed mutual defense agreements and formed a rather loose joint military command...

...Nevertheless, American troops were sent to Lebanon and British troops to Jordan to hold back the inevitable...

...When their new president, Nasser, visited the Northern Province he was welcomed by hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Syrians...

...It is these concrete and symbolic achievements and not Radio Cairo, spies, agents, or provacateurs that have made Nasser the hero of Arab nationalism...

...American policy encouraged this trend...

...Not all Syrians were enthusiastic about the union...

...His "moderation" and "cooperation," plus the aid of LT.N...

...The situation was similar in Jordan where young people have also become infected with the new nationalism...

...The paradox of this situation is that landing foreign troops was intended to stymie the growth of pro-UAR sentiment in Lebanon and Jordan, but in fact produced virtually the opposite result...

...The present governments of Jordan and Lebanon are now faced with a dilemma...

...Revolution in Iraq should not have come as a surprise—as it reportedly did—to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, nor to "experts" familiar with that country's economic and social conditions, certainly as sub-standard as those in the most poverty stricken nations...

...It was now for the first time in modern history at least a partial reality...

...But they also espoused republicanism, neutralism, progress, and a dynamic Arab nationalism...

...Iraq was actually a member of the Western alliance through its membership in the Bagdad pact organization...

...There were few religious differences —the vast majority of Egyptians and Syrians are Sunni Muslims...

...and Great Britain to withdraw discreetly...

...Within the last decade, there had been an awakening to the need for change in Iraq...

...But the country was still so ridden with landlordism, corruption, and the other traditional social and economic evils of the pre-revolutionary Arab East, that the awakening was not fast enough...

...concept were calling for unity—and in most cases unity under the leadership of Egypt's President Gamal Ab-del Nasser...

...But by the end of 1957 the realization of political unity seemed remote indeed...

...However, he stated, "When study began there were handicaps...

...Radio Cairo filled the airwaves with diatribes against Chamoun and the Lebanese government...

...Of course Nasser did not stand on the sidelines uttering soothing words...

...The opposition fighters became the "People's Forces" fighting against a "monstrous tyranny...

...These were chiefly economic...

...The mass outpouring of Lebanese should have portended trouble...

...This was evident since many opponents of the President were Christians who did not favor Arab union...

...His popularity was not forced upon his followers in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon...

...The seeds of the Lebanese revolution were not in Muslim-Christian or in pro- versus anti-Nasser tensions, although these later became important factors...

...it is possible to speculate that the coup might never have occurred had it not been for Egypt's President...

...But until late July, before the American troop landing, there were many opposition leaders who, although accepting material assistance from the UAR, were unwilling to identify with it politically...

...They seem to have been pushed toward the latter of the two alternatives...

...It proved unnecessary to overcome in advance many of the traditional obstacles to unity to fuse Egypt and Syria into the Northern and Southern Provinces of the United Arab Republic...

...The Arab world seemed torn by political factions divided over basic foreign policy issues, the most fundamental of which concerned attitudes toward the Soviet Union and the United States...

...That continued to be pretty much a function of UAR President Nasser whose domain and responsibilities had now been extended...

...Such were the questions a Middle East observer might have asked himself a year ago when the subject of Arab unity was raised...

...In Jordan the inevitable, as even Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion has lately come to recognize, seems to be the demise of Jordan as an independent entity, and union, federation, or formation of some other political tie with the UAR in accord with the vast majority of popular sentiment...

...Against the background of economic and social conditions, these talismen of victory primed both Iraq and Jordan for the July upheaval...

...At the Bandung Conference in 1955 Nasser emerged as a leader of the Afro-Asian world along with Nehru, Mao, and U Nu...

...It was obvious that a large proportion of that tiny nation's one and a half million citizens were ardent pan-Arabists who also wanted to end their own independent existence...

...Most young Iraqi journalists, students, university professors, technicians, and even officials of the royal government whom I have met were post-1950 Arab nationalists...

...Such leaders exist, but now it is too late to convince them—or for them to persuade their fellow Arabs—of American good intentions toward the Middle East...

...Millions of Egyptian pounds poured into the coffers of the opposition, and arms flowed across the frontier of the Northern Province into the arsenals of the Lebanese guerrillas...

...Some of them had even given qualified support to the controversial Eisenhower Doctrine before it became a talisman of "Western Imperialism...

...Two Arab nations had definitely merged their individual identities into a larger political unit...

...Now they must fend for themselves without American support...

...How would Syrians, long used to running and managing their own businesses with little if any government interference, take to the planned economy, the high import duties on luxuries and non-essentials, the strict policing of import and export licenses now prevalent in Cairo...

...The task was, therefore, difficult...

...For the first time an Arab nation was not only threatening to spite the West, but actually doing it...

...But then came the revolution in Iraq and the arrival of American troops in Lebanon...

...Egypt came out far ahead in this venture, since it sequestered and Egyptianized overnight foreign business, commerce, and industry worth hundreds of millions of pounds...

...There is no hidden secret behind Nasser's success...

...There are still numerous versions of how the United Arab Republic (UAR) was born...

...Damascus and Cairo were discussing economic cooperation...

...But whatever hastened it, once this formidable step had been taken, the jinx against Arab unity was broken...

...As the conflict between Chamoun and his opponents intensified, it increasingly took on the appearance of what the Lebanese government insisted it was—a struggle between those who favored and those who opposed Nasser...

...Within Iraq a generation of young men to whom the old slogans were not enough had grown up...

...As in Iraq, neither King Hussein nor his retinue recognized any part of the doctrine to an extent which aroused popular feeling in their favor...

...The use of these techniques by Egypt has merely intensified an already intense emotion which pervades the area...

...Jordan's King Hussein was a publicly avowed anti-communist whose government was sustained by British and American economic support...

...Even Arabs in countries whose governments were antagonistic to the DON PERETZ, now on an extended swing through the Middle East, is the author of a book published by the Middle East Institute, "Israel and the Palestine Arabs...