MIDDLE EAST UNION NOW THE ARAB WORLD LAST WEEK REELED IN A 
DELIRIUM OF JOY . DAMASCUS RADIO REPEATEDLY SHRIEKED, " AHLAN BIL 
WAHDA ! " (WELCOME TO UNION) . WHEN SYRIAN SOLDIERS SENT 
BURSTS OF TRACER BULLETS STREAKING AGAINST THE NIGHT SKY, THE RADIO 
ANNOUNCER HASTILY TOLD HIS EXCITED LISTENERS THAT IT WAS NOT REVOLUTION 
BUT JUBILATION . THE DREAM HAS COME TRUE ! HEADLINED A 
BEIRUT PAPER . ALEPPO NEARLY EXPLODED : ITS MAIN STREETS BECAME 
A SEA OF SCREAMING HUMANITY, AND CARS INCHED ALONG HONKING THEIR 
HORNS TO THE RHYTHM, " NAS-SER ! " ALGERIA'S PREMIER AHMED 
BEN BELLA CABLED THAT THIS WAS " THE MOST WONDERFUL DAY 
OF MY LIFE ! " AND YEMEN'S STRONGMAN, ABDULLAH SALLAL, HAILED 
THE " OUTSTANDING HISTORIC EVENT . " CHEERING CROWDS MILLED THROUGH 
ADEN AND KUWAIT AND BAGHDAD . FESTERING WOUND . WHAT THRILLED 
THE ARAB WORLD WAS THE CAIRO ANNOUNCEMENT THAT EGYPT, SYRIA AND 
IRAQ HAD AT LAST AGREED TO UNITE IN A TRIPARTITE FEDERATION 
. THE TERMS OF UNION WERE FAR STRONGER AND MORE CENTRALIZED 
THAN ARABS, OR ANYONE ELSE, HAD EXPECTED . THERE HAD BEEN 
MUCH TALK OF A LOOSE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONS MOVING SLOWLY OVER 
THE YEARS TOWARD ACTUAL UNITY . BUT THE PULSING ENTHUSIASM OF 
THE MOMENT APPARENTLY SWEPT ASIDE MUCH OF THE EARLIER RESTRAINT . 
A FEW DOZEN MEN IN CAIRO WERE GROPING FOR THE POLITICAL 
BLUEPRINT FOR A NATION STRONGER, RICHER AND MORE POWERFUL THAN ANY 
ARAB STATE FOR CENTURIES PAST . IF IT ALL WORKS OUT, 
THE PROPOSED NEW MIDDLE EASTERN POWER COMPLEX WILL COVER 620,300 SQ 
. MI., STRETCH FROM THE BORDERS OF TURKEY AND IRAN TO 
SUDAN AND LIBYA, FROM THE PERSIAN GULF TO THE MEDITERRANEAN AND 
FAR DOWN THE RED SEA COAST . IT WOULD HAVE A 
POPULATION OF 40 MILLION PEOPLE (EXPECTED TO REACH 80 MILLION BY 
1985, GREATER THAN THE LARGEST NATION OF WESTERN EUROPE) AND A 
TOTAL GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT OF $5.7 BILLION . HERO OF THE 
HOUR WAS EGYPT'S PRESIDENT GAMAL ABDEL NASSER . BETTER THAN ANY 
MAN, HE KNEW THAT, ON THE HISTORICAL RECORD, THE ODDS WERE 
AGAINST SUCCESS . TIME AND AGAIN, THE CHERISHED DREAM OF ARAB 
ONENESS HAS BEEN SHATTERED ON THE IRRATIONALITY OF ARAB BEHAVIOR, ON 
PERSONAL RIVALRIES, AMBITIONS, CLASS DIFFERENCES AND COMPLICATED LEVANTINE INTRIGUES . AMID 
SHOUTS OF ARAB JOY, EGYPT AND SYRIA FORGED THE UNITED ARAB 
REPUBLIC IN 1958, ONLY TO SEE IT COLLAPSE IN A WELTER 
OF BICKERING THREE YEARS LATER . DURING THE PAST FIVE WEEKS 
OF NEGOTIATIONS IN CAIRO, RUMORS SPREAD OF WRANGLING AND DISSENSION BETWEEN 
NASSER ON ONE SIDE AND THE SYRIAN AND IRAQI LEADERS OF 
THE SOCIALIST BAATH PARTY ON THE OTHER . BOTH PICKED AT 
THE " FESTERING WOUND " CAUSED BY BAATH'S BREAKUP OF THE 
EARLIER, ILL-STARRED UNION OF EGYPT AND SYRIA IN THE UNITED ARAB 
REPUBLIC . EACH PUT THE BLAME FOR FAILURE ON THE OTHER 
. FINALLY, AT A PLENARY SESSION IN THE GILTAND-CREAM GREAT HALL 
OF KUBBAH PALACE, NASSER PROPOSED A SHARING OF GUILT . " 
THE PRESENCE OF BAATH IN THE ARAB HOMELAND IS A NECESSITY, 
" HE DECLARED . " THE RESIGNATION OF THE BAATH MINISTERS 
FROM THE U.A.R . GOVERNMENT IN 1961 WAS A MISTAKE . 
ACCEPTING THE RESIGNATIONS WAS ALSO A MISTAKE . " THE BAATHIST 
DELEGATES CLAPPED AND CHEERED THIS BURYING OF THE HATCHET . IN 
A STARTLINGLY UN-ARAB SPIRIT OF AMITY AND COMPROMISE, BOTH SIDES ACCEPTED 
THE OTHER'S GOOD FAITH AND MINIMUM TERMS . CHEERFUL BORROWING . 
THE POINTS OF AGREEMENT ANNOUNCED BY EGYPT'S PREMIER ALI SABRY INCLUDE 
A FEDERAL STATE RETAINING THE NAME OF THE UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC, 
WITH CAIRO AS ITS CAPITAL . ALL CITIZENS WOULD SHARE ONE 
NATIONALITY, BUT EACH OF THE THREE REGIONS WOULD BE SELF-GOVERNING AND 
IN CONTROL OF ITS SEPARATE ECONOMY . THE OVERALL GOVERNMENT BASED 
IN CAIRO WOULD HAVE A SINGLE PRESIDENT (ALMOST CERTAINLY NASSER), A 
PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL WITH MEMBERS FROM EACH REGION AND A BICAMERAL LEGISLATURE 
: A HOUSE WITH ONE MEMBER FOR EACH 60,000 CITIZENS, AND 
A SENATE REPRESENTING THE REGIONS EQUALLY WITHOUT REGARD TO POPULATION . 
THE ARAB PRESS CHEERFULLY ADMITTED THAT MUCH WAS BORROWED FROM THE 
U.S . CONSTITUTION BECAUSE IT PROVIDED THE " IDEAL FORM OF 
UNION AS PROVEN BY EXPERIENCE . " STICKING POINT IS NASSER'S 
INSISTENCE ON A SINGLE POLITICAL PARTY FOR THE WHOLE U.A.R., MODELED 
ON HIS OWN ARAB SOCIALIST UNION IN EGYPT . SINCE THIS 
WOULD SWALLOW UP AND PROBABLY DESTROY THE BAATH MOVEMENT, BAATHISTS HAVE 
HELD OUT FOR A LOOSER, MORE REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE BAATH-CREATED 
NATIONAL FRONT IN IRAQ, AND THE BAATHIST-NASSERITE UNIONIST FRONT IN SYRIA 
. IN THE END, NASSER WOULD PROBABLY HAVE HIS WAY ON 
THIS, AS ON OTHER LIMITATIONS TO POLITICAL DEMOCRACY . A CAIRO 
SPOKESMAN EXPLAINED, IN A PHRASE DEFINITELY NOT BORROWED FROM U.S . 
DEMOCRACY, THAT " FREEDOM WILL BE GUARANTEED TO THE PEOPLE, BUT 
NOT TO THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE . " THERE ARE 
MANY LESSER MATTERS STILL TO BE DECIDED . COMMITTEES WOULD BE 
ASSIGNED TO WORK OUT DETAILS OF CURRENCY, CUSTOMS, POSTAGE, DIPLOMATIC AND 
OTHER POLICIES . FOREIGN AFFAIRS WOULD BE UNDER THE NEW U.A.R 
. GOVERNMENT, AND EMBASSIES ABROAD WOULD BE MERGED . THE U.A.R., 
HOWEVER, MAY TRY TO HANG ON TO ITS THREE UNITED NATIONS 
SEATS IN MUCH THE SAME WAY THAT THE SOVIET UNION CONTROLS 
THE VOTES OF THE UKRAINE AND BYELORUSSIA . FREED SLAVES . 
MANY OBSERVERS SUSPECT THAT THIS NEW SHIP OF STATE MAY GO 
SWIFTLY ON THE ROCKS, BUT FEW OF THEM ARE IN THE 
ARAB WORLD . TWELVE MEMBERS OF OIL-RICH KUWAIT'S 50-MAN LEGISLATURE FORMALLY 
REQUESTED UNITY WITH THE U.A.R . EVEN NASSER'S TRADITIONAL ENEMIES, THE 
MONARCHIES OF JORDAN AND SAUDI ARABIA, MADE EFFORTS AT RECONCILIATION . 
JORDAN'S KING HUSSEIN DISCREETLY LET 56 NASSERITE AND BAATHIST POLITICAL PRISONERS 
OUT OF JAIL AND SENT OFF FRIENDLY FEELERS TO NASSER . 
IN SAUDI ARABIA, ALARMED BY A PRO-NASSER DEMONSTRATION THAT COST 19 
LIVES, PREMIER PRINCE FEISAL TRIED TO MODERNIZE HIS REGIME BY ALLOTTING 
$1,200,000 AS COMPENSATION TO SLAVE OWNERSWHO WOULD FREE THEIR CHATTELS . 
AT WEEK'S END CAIRO RADIO WAS SPREADING WORD OF A CEASE-FIRE 
BY MUTUAL AGREEMENT IN REBELLION-TORN YEMEN . IT SAID THAT SAUDI 
ARABIA WAS PREPARED TO STOP SUPPLYING THE ROYALISTS SUPPORTING EX-IMAM BADR 
WITH MONEY AND MUNITIONS, WHILE NASSER MAY WITHDRAW A TOKEN CONTINGENT 
OF HIS 28,000-MAN EGYPTIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE BY APRIL 20 . THOUGH 
NASSER'S BROADCASTERS ARE NOT THE MOST RELIABLE SOURCES IN THE WORLD, 
THINGS MAY WELL COME TO THIS, FOR WITHOUT DOUBT JORDAN AND 
SAUDI ARABIA AND ALL OTHER ARABS ARE BECOMING INCREASINGLY ANXIOUS TO 
AVOID ANGERING NASSER 