Sadat severs links with Jordan

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32886, 8 April 1972, Page 17

Sadat severs links with Jordan

(N.Z.P.A. -Reuter — Copyright) CAIRO, April 7. Egypt broke off diplomatic relations with Jordan today in the strongest Arab action so far against King Hussein’s plan for a new kingdom to include areas now occupied by Israel.

The dramatic an* nouncement came in Cairo just before President Sadat was about to address the Palestine National CongressEgypt, along with most other Arab nations saw

earlier denounced King Hussein’s proposals as an American-Israeli conspiracy. Relations between Jordan and Egypt have been gradually worsening since, two years ago, King Hussein took firm action against the Palestinian guerrillas, and they were at a low ebb last year, after the assassination of the Jordanian Prime Minister, Mr Wasfi Tell, as he was entering a hotel beside the River Nile in Cairo. The official announcement severing relations with Jordan followed a Cabinet meeting in Cairo presided over by President Sadat. Dr Abdel Kader Hatem, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information, said that the break had become necessary because it was clear that King Hussein’s proposal was based on a plan devised by the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Yigal Allon). Dr Hatem added that the Cabinet had also discussed preparations for “the coming stage, in the light of Egyptian policy, which is the battle which has been imposed on us, and to which there is no alternative.” King Hussein announced his plan on March 15, proposing that at some time in the future, Jordan should become two semi-autonomous regions—Jordan on the East Bank of the River Jordan and Palestine on the now-Israeli-occupied West Bank. Amman ■ would remain the capital of the Jordanian region, and of the kingdom as a whole, and Jerusalem would become the capita] of Palestine. Political observers in Cairo say that the move virtually removes the so-called eastern front—the borders between

Jordan and Israel—from the Middle East crisis. With Jordan out of the situation, from the Arab viewpoint, the confrontation now centres more than ever on the Suez Canal front.