Hussein Reportedly Talks of Visiting Jewish State : Israeli Boatmen Catch a King Fishing

Jordan’s King Hussein has reportedly told a group of Israelis in a chance encounter in the Gulf of Aqaba that he hopes the day will come when he can visit Israel.

The encounter occurred Sunday when a group of Israelis out for a spin in their speedboat came across the Jordanian monarch fishing from his yacht. With the king were his wife, Queen Noor, and their four children.

When Meir Zamzelig, 37, of Eilat, saw the king, clad in swim trunks, he used the occasion to engage in a little offshore diplomacy and invited Hussein to visit Israel, Zamzelig told reporters Tuesday.

“I hope it will happen one day, inshallah (God willing),” Zamzelig quoted the king as replying.

Photo Opportunity

The two yachtsmen exchanged banter for a time, and then Zamzelig headed at full throttle for the shore, to get a camera with which to record the encounter for history--and virtually every newspaper in Israel.

Zamzelig said the king’s security guards seemed surprised and edgy at seeing him return but that the monarch himself smiled and readily agreed to be photographed.

The picture, with Hussein waving, was splashed across the front pages of most Israeli newspapers Tuesday.

“I think he is a very nice guy; I didn’t see him for a moment as an enemy,” Zamzelig said, adding that he invited Hussein to visit the water-sports concession he runs at the Hotel Sonesta, an Israeli resort in Eilat.

It was only the second time that King Hussein has had a public encounter with Israelis, although he is believed to have met secretly with Israeli officials.

The first encounter occurred in 1985, when Hussein, who holds a black belt in judo, agreed to have his picture taken with two Israeli martial-arts champions he met in a London museum.

The latest encounter, however, was particularly significant because it came amid efforts by Jordan, the United States and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to reach an agreement in principle on the convening of a Middle East peace conference.

Secret Meeting in London

Although Jordan has denied it, Hussein is understood to have met in secret recently with Peres in London. That meeting, together with discreet but intensive U.S. shuttle diplomacy between Jordan and Israel, is said to have resulted in a tentative agreement on the format of an international peace conference.

But further progress has been stalled by disagreement in Israel between Peres and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who strongly opposes an international conference, which would include U.S. and Soviet involvement.

Shamir has called instead for direct Arab-Israeli talks. Hussein, who wants an international umbrella for the negotiations, has insisted on a format sponsored by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

Under the agreement worked out with Peres, the peace conference would be ceremonially convened by the Security Council before moving on to direct talks.

Lacks Support in Parliament

However, with Israel’s coalition government immobilized by an even split between Shamir’s right-wing Likud Bloc and Peres’ centrist Labor Alignment, this agreement means little unless Peres can force early elections and return to power with a mandate to pursue what he has called a “historic chance” for peace.

Thus far, he has been unable to do this because of a lack of support within the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, for new elections.

But the complexities of Israeli coalition politics mean little to Meir Zamzelig, who went out for a spin to see how the fish were biting and ended up catching a king.

“Israel needs peace,” he said, “and I hope there will be peace very soon.”