MIDDLE EAST SHIFTING FORTUNES IN A LETTER TO THE MOSLEM WISE MEN 
OF EGYPT'S 1,000-YEAR-OLD AL AZHAR UNIVERSITY, A DISTRAUGHT IRAQI ELECTRICIAN WROTE 
: " I VOWED TO SACRIFICE MY SON FOR ARAB UNITY 
. NOW THAT IT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED, SHOULD I CARRY OUT 
MY VOW AND KILL MY BOY . AN AL AZHAR SCHOLAR 
REPLIED THAT HE WAS MOVED BY THE WRITER'S FAITH, BUT WARNED 
THAT MOSLEM LAW FORBIDS HUMAN SACRIFICES . THEREFORE, " YOUR VOW 
CARRIES NO OBLIGATION AND SHOULD NOT BE EXECUTED . " LOWERED 
FLAGS . THERE WAS A MORE MATERIAL REASON FOR THE ELECTRICIAN 
TO ABSTAIN FROM FILIAL MURDER : ARAB UNITY HAS BEEN LOUDLY 
TRUMPETED BY EGYPT, SYRIA AND IRAQ, BUT IT HAS HARDLY BEEN 
CONSUMMATED . ON THE SURFACE, EVERYTHING SEEMED TO BE PROCEEDING ACCORDING 
TO PLAN . SYRIA AND IRAQ LOWERED THEIR NATIONAL FLAGS AND 
RAISED INSTEAD THE OFFICIAL THREE-STAR BANNER OF GAMAL ABDEL NASSER'S UNITED 
ARAB REPUBLIC . MINISTERS RACED FROM CAPITAL TO CAPITAL DISCUSSING PLANS 
FOR MERGING FOREIGN SERVICES, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, AIRLINES AND TEXTBOOKS . MILITARY 
DELEGATIONS BROODED OVER THE VITAL AMALGAMATION OF THE THREE ARMED FORCES 
. JURISTS WERE HARD AT WORK ON A DRAFT OF A 
NEW FEDERAL CONSTITUTION TO BE JOINTLY VOTED ON NEXT SEPTEMBER . 
NEIGHBORING JORDAN SEETHED WITH AN UNREST THAT MIGHT DETHRONE KING HUSSEIN 
AND FORCE THE NATION TO JOIN AN ARAB UNION . CAIRO'S 
PRESS HEADLINED THAT HUSSEIN WAS CHALLENGED BY HIS ARMY . SYRIA 
AND IRAQ PAPERS REPORTED " SPREADING REVOLUTION " AND " GUERRILLA 
WAR WITH PITCHED BATTLES . " IN DAMASCUS A BAND OF 
JORDANIAN EXILES, LED BY HANDSOME, HOTHEADED EX-COLONEL ALI ABU NUWAR, 40, 
SET UP A RIVAL " GOVERNMENT . " ABU NUWAR HAD 
NEARLY TOPPLED HUSSEIN IN 1957, BUT BECAUSE OF OLD FRIENDSHIP, THE 
KING SPARED ABU NUWAR'S LIFE AND BANISHED HIM . EVER SINCE, 
ABU NUWAR HAS REPAID THE ACT OF MERCY BY PROMOTING ANTI-HUSSEIN 
CONSPIRACIES . PEOPLE'S NOOSE . AS THE PRESSURES MOUNTED, RADIO BAGHDAD 
CALLED HUSSEIN THE " HIRELING KING " AND THE " GRANDSON 
OF UNCLE SAM, " WARNED THAT FLIGHT WAS THE ONLY ESCAPE 
FROM " THE NOOSE THE PEOPLE ARE PREPARING FOR YOU . 
" INSTEAD OF DECAMPING, KING HUSSEIN LAST WEEK CLOSED HIS BORDER 
AGAINST SYRIAN ARMS AND AGENTS, TOURED THE OLD CITY OF JERUSALEM, 
AL BIRAH AND RAMALLAH, WHERE HE CHATTED WITH ARMY OFFICERS AND 
INSPECTED TROOPS IN THEIR SANDBAG DUGOUTS FACING THE ISRAELI POSITIONS ALONG 
THE FRONTIER . IN HIS DETERMINATION TO STAY IN POWER, HUSSEIN 
JEERED AT ISRAEL, PARTLY TO PACIFY THE PALESTINIAN ARABS, WHO MAKE 
UP TWO-THIRDS OF HIS 1,800,000 SUBJECTS, PARTLY BECAUSE ISRAEL'S SUPPORT FOR 
JORDAN INDEPENDENCE IS A POLITICAL EMBARRASSMENT . THE PROBLEM THREATENED TO 
INVOLVE THE U.S . WASHINGTON HAD GIVEN HUSSEIN ASSURANCES OF SUPPORT 
. WITH NEXT YEAR'S U.S . ELECTION CAMPAIGN TO THINK ABOUT, 
PRESIDENT KENNEDY HAD TO CONCERN HIMSELF WITH ISRAEL AS WELL . 
IN WASHINGTON, NEW YORK'S REPUBLICAN SENATOR JACOB JAVITS LED A BAND 
OF COLLEAGUES IN CALLING FOR A SHARP CHANGE IN THE U.S 
. POLICY OF " DEALING EVENHANDEDLY' WITH FRIEND AND FOE ALIKE 
IN THE MIDDLE EAST, " AND ATTACKED CONTINUED FINANCIAL AID TO 
NASSER . NOT AN INCH . AT WEEK'S END, HOWEVER, JORDAN 
WAS STILL INTACT, AND IT WAS THE ARAB UNITY MOVEMENT THAT 
WAS REELING . IT HAD TO DO WITH A CABINET CRISIS 
IN SYRIA BETWEEN THE MAJORITY BELONGING TO THE BAATH SOCIALIST PARTY 
AND THE MINORITY OF STRONGLY NASSERITE MINISTERS . THE STRUGGLE HAD 
BEEN BREWING FOR TWO MONTHS, AND PRO-NASSER MINISTERS FRANKLY TOLD NEWSMEN 
THAT THEY INTENDED TO OVERTHROW THE BAATHISTS . THE BAATH COUNTER-STRATEGY, 
AS ENUNCIATED BY ITS FOUNDER, MICHEL AFLAK, WAS : " DO 
EVERYTHING TO PRESERVE UNITY, BUT DON'T GIVE AN INCH, AND DON'T 
SURRENDER ANY POWER . " WHEN RUMORS OF A PRO-NASSER ARMY 
COUP LAST WEEK SWEPT THE VOLATILE SYRIAN CAPITAL OF DAMASCUS, BAATH 
ACTED . MORE THAN 100 ARMY OFFICERS WERE DISMISSED OR CLAPPED 
IN JAIL . IN RETALIATION, ALL SIX NASSERITE MINISTERS HANDED IN 
THEIR RESIGNATIONS . DEPUTY PREMIER NIHAD ELKASSEM, WHO HAD LED A 
SYRIAN UNITY DELEGATION TO CAIRO LAST MARCH AND HAD SOBBED WITH 
JOY ON NASSER'S SHOULDER, CRIED, " WE ARE GIVING UP OUR 
RESPONSIBILITIES BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN THE MEANS TO CARRY 
THEM OUT . " THE CABINET WALKOUT WAS INTENDED TO BRING 
THE BAATHISTS TO HEEL, AND IT WELL MIGHT . ISOLATED IN 
POWER, WITH THE STREET MOBS SYMPATHETIC TO NASSER AND THE ARMY 
OF UNCERTAIN LOYALTY, BAATH'S ONLY AVAILABLE ALLIES ARE THE MERCHANTS AND 
LANDOWNERS, WHO MOST OPPOSE NASSER'S SOCIAL OBJECTIVES . THEIR EMBRACE COULD 
BE AS FATAL TO BAATH AS ISRAEL'S WOULD BE TO HUSSEIN 
. DURING THE CRISIS, NASSER WAS OFF ON A GOOD-WILL VISIT 
TO ALGERIA, BUT, FOR ONCE, EGYPT'S PRESS AND VITUPERATIVE RADIO SHOWED 
SURPRISING SELF-CONTROL NEITHER MENTIONED THE SYRIAN STRUGGLE OR THE NASSERITE RESIGNATIONS 
. AT WEEK'S END, CAIRO'S MILITARY LEADERS ABRUPTLY CANCELED A SCHEDULED 
MEETING TO PLAN THE MERGER OF ARAB ARMIES. 