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University Daily Kansan Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1964
Jordan Dispute May Force Showdown
CAIRO—(UPI)—Plans and counter-plan for development of the Jordan river are drawing the 15-year-old Arab-Israeli struggle toward its biggest showdown since the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Over Arab objections, Israel this spring begins diversion of Jordan waters into the Negev Desert. The Small initial flow is to be increased to 40 per cent of the river's output within two years.
Waiting until the last minute, leaders of 13 Arab states met in Cairo in January and agreed to a crash diversion program of their own for tapping the river's Arab sources.
Because of the American, British and French commitment to preserve peace in the area (interpreted by the Arabs as a pledge to defend Israel) and mounting Soviet support for the Arab plan, the situation threatens a conflict far beyond its desert origins.
Observers hasten to point out that neither side, Arab or Israeli;
shows any real intention of fighting. The danger lies in the situation getting out of hand, specifically along the Syrian-Israeli border.
The 11-months-old Syrian Baath party regime ranks, next to Yemen, as the Middle East's least stable government. And strongman Gen. Amin El-Hafez openly defied the generally calm tone of the Cairo conference by urging military action against Israel.
It is here that most border fighting has occurred in recent years including an outburst of violence last year that United Nations observers blamed on Syria.
Arab fears of being drawn into battle by Syria are heightened by the fact the Syrian-Israeli border takes in Lake Tiberias—the Biblical sea of Galilee—where the Israeli Jordan project begins.
Whatever happens along the Arab-Israeli front in 1964, or elsewhere in the middle East, is likely to hinge on the willingness of the participants at the Cairo summit conference to live up to their promises.
These include:
- Speedy work on diversion of Jordan river tributaries in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. The announced total cost estimate of 6,250,000 pounds ($17.5 million) suggests the initial stage of the scheme will draw off far less than the 60 per cent of the Jordan waters allocated to Arab states under the controversial 1955 Johnston plan.
- Setting up of a joint military headquarters headed by United Arab Republic chief of staff Lt. Gen. Ali Ali Amer which would coordinate Arab military efforts in the event of an armed conflict with Israel. Talks now are underway among military commanders in the 13 Arab league member states on actual composition of the headquarters.
- Creation of a "palestine entity" to represent the more than one million Palestinians, both refugees and those who have settled around the world, and spearhead their drive to regain land lost to Israel or win compensation. This falls short of the most millitant Palestinians,
homes for a government in exile but represents a major concession of Jordan's King Hussein who has previously opposed the "entity" idea on grounds that "Jordan is Palestine."
The Cairo resolutions on the Jordan river and Palestine aside, the conference was most remarkable for having brought Arab leaders together despite grave differences.
In informal between-conference meetings, Algeria's President Ahmed Ben Bella and Morocco's king Hassan agreed to discussions on their border dispute. Nasser and King Saud talked about getting themselves out of the 15-months-old Yemen civil war. Nasser and Hussein agreed to re-establish 7 UAR-Jordan diplomatic relations after a break of more than two years.
The chief of state also agreed to halt their press and radio attacks against one another. Here, the burden falls heaviest on Nasser himself since the UAR runs what is by far the Middle East's biggest propaganda network.
Previous agreements of this sort have been broken in such short order that the latest announcement brought wry smiles to the faces of newsmen covering the conference. But the fact that the kings and presidents have agreed to meet again in August, and in Alexandria where Nasser will again be the host, could impose special obligations on the Cairo agreements that earlier conferences have lacked.
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Red China's Premier Woos Small Nations
9 countries in 35 days Call VI2-1689 Henrire Wilhelm
By Phil Newsom UPI Foreign News Analyst
Red China's tireless traveller, Premier Chou En-lai, is on the road again, first to Burma, then to Pakistan and on to Ceylon.
As on his just-completed tour of Africa, one purpose of Chou's trip is to promote another Afro-Asian Bandung conference of the so-called colored peoples in the history of mankind.
Such a conference ardently is desired by Red China and Indonesia, is opposed by India and receives only lukewarm support from Egypt which would prefer a conference of non-aligned nations not limited by color.
For the Red Chinese the greatest benefit would be the opportunity to press their campaign dividing the world between white and colored peoples.
BOTH EGYPT AND India are said to feel that another Bandung conference now, far from promoting unity, simply would emphasize differences existing among Afro-Asian states, such as Ethiopia's quarrel with Somalia, the Indonesia-Malaysia dispute and the deep split between India and Red China.
Predict More Splash Landings For Astronauts
HOUSTON — (UPI)— U.S. astronauts returning home from orbit must trust to the mercies of the four winds and the seven seas for a while to come.
The day when spacemen will bring their capsules back to the land-based strip, it develops, is not around the corner. It doesn't even seem to be anywhere in the neighborhood.
So when the first two Gemini astronauts come plummeting back through the atmosphere after a three-orbit trip a year from now, they will do exactly as John Glenn did two years ago—plunk down in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and wait for someone to dredge them to safety.
And, said Charles M. Mathews, Gemini program Chief, there is a possibility that all 1d flights now planned in this newest manned spaceflight project will similarly end up in the salty drink—unless someone comes with a proven method to bring space capsules back to land.
This is not to say that the Gemini capsule, a 7,000-pound machine shaped roughly like an old-fashioned television tube, could not return to land. It could, and will—if an emergency develops. But it would be a jolting experience for the astronauts inside.
Burma, up to now, has been one of the nations uncommitted.
In Burma, glamorized by Rudyard Kipling, Chou was dealing with one of the most individualistic of al Asian leaders.
KIPLING, AS A foreign reporter, now would be allowed to remain in Burma just 72 hours.
In a manner not unlike Indonesian President Sukarno's pursuit of "guided democracy," Burmese leader Gen. Ne Win is pursuing what he calls the Burmese road to socialism.
The route has included the arrest of some 1,400 political opponents, including former Premier U Nu, and more recently open warfare against so-called "white flag communists" aligned with Peking.
It has included swift nationalization of both Burmese and foreign business enterprises, the latter mostly British but also numbering among its victims the bank of (Communist) China.
Meanwhile, foreign aid is welcomed from all quarters. U.S.money is building a junior college, enlarging a Rangoon hospital and helping to build a sewage system. Soviet Russia is contributing a fertilizer plant and assisting in land reclamation.
DISTRIBUTION OF propaganda by various national embassies, including Peking's, has been strietly limited. Western contacts, through travel or education are discouraged on grounds that they "subvert the Burmese character."
The Red Chinese have promised $84 million to go into sugar mills, textile factories, bridges and roads.
Ne Win's foreign policy is based almost entirely on his awareness of Burma's close proximity to Red China. But he is supported by both the United States and Britain on grounds that he is struggling to prevent his country from becoming another satellite,
A weakness is that Ne Win has cut the grounds from under popular support, that his military regime lacks the training to handle all the enterprises it has taken over, and that if he falls, the communists are there waiting to take over.
Japan is paying $200 million in World War II reparations and has provided another $120 million in grants.
NEW YORK—(UPI) — The first professional basketball league was the National League of 1898-99 with teams in Trenton, Millville, N.J., Camden and Philadelphia.
1st Basketball League
HELP WANTED to elect McDILL "Huck" BOYD GOVERNOR OF KANSAS Hear Huck Boyd speak tonight, 7:30, Union
Engineering and Physical Science Seniors $ ^{*} $
GROW with a growing industry... ..the Bell Telephone System
The Bell Telephone System is continuing its expansion program to serve a growing nation. Growth in the telephone industry means new jobs, fresh opportunities for promotions, a rewarding career for you. The future is bright for young men who want to advance with a progressive industry.
Representatives of the following Bell System companies will be glad to talk with you. They will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, creed, color, or national origin.
- Southwestern Bell Telephone Company builds, maintains and operates telephone and other communications systems throughout its five-state territory.
- Bell Laborstories research, development, engineering and design in electronics and communications.
- Western Electric
- manufacturing and supply unit.
- Sandia Corporation applied research, development and design for production of atomic weapons.
- Long Lines Department of A. T. & T. provides interstate Long Distance and overseas telephone service.
Bell System representatives will be on campus February 27 and 28. Sign up for an interview at the engineering office.