Abstract

The Uneasy Arabs

The appeal for unity and progress, heard faintly in the Arab countries since the turn of the 20th century and a bit more loudly after the Palestine debacle, has been drowned out once again by nationalist reaction to the maneuvers of the imperialist powers in 1949. When the Arab League was created by the British Colonial Office in early 1940s, there was a slender chance that it might weld the Arabic-speaking states into a bloc strong enough to withstand outside pressures. As it turned out, the only cohesive force within the league was an antipathy to foreign influence. This was encouraged by the British and directed against the French or the Jews. The complete bankruptcy of the league as a unifying and progressive force is revealed at a time when the Arab states face the most severe economic and political crisis of the past three decades. Mass revolt is a strong possibility in all the Arab countries of the Middle East.