Formation of the United Arab Republic
The formation of the United Arab Republic,
Arab politics and tension with Israel show a remarkable level of
interconnectedness. In their struggle to forge a common front, Syria, Israel as
an enemy and the personality of Gamal Abd al-Nasser were important factors. Rival
Arab politicians would use Arab unity to score political mileage.
The Centrality of Syria
Michel Aflaq, who was the foremost
theoretician of the Baath party, acknowledged the centrality of Syria in
uniting all Arabs. It was indeed the Syrian Baath party that called for a union
with Egypt as early as 1956. It was, however, not lost on Aflaq that any arrangement
that sidelined Nasser was likely to fail. Some Arab leaders did not take
Syria’s centrality in Arab affairs kindly. Iraq plotted to oust the Syrian
regime with the help of the Great Britain. It so happened that the CIA was also
planning to overthrow the Syrian regime. None of these succeeded. If anything,
the unearthing of the Iraqi plan increased the resolve of Syrians sympathetic
to a union with Egypt. Nasser found more supporters in his criticism of Iraq’s Nuri
al-Said whom they accused of forsaking his country’s independence to the West.
Non-Arab Players
It also took foreign actors to drive the
quest towards a union with Egypt to the next level. The announcement of the
Eisenhower doctrine led to further alignments in the Arab world with Michel Chamoun
openly endorsing while Nuri al-Said and King Husayn also showing implicit
approval. The ensuing propaganda coming from Cairo and Damascus condemning
these Arab leaders convinced the U.S that Syria was the place to contain the
spread of communism. The CIA hatched another plot to oust the Syrian regime and
again the plot was unearthed an U.S officials expelled from Syria. This episode
also saw Arab politics at play as the Saudi’s who offered to negotiate a
solution were intent on isolating Nasser who himself decided to send troops to
Syria as a show of solidarity. The Baathists in Syria saw this as an important
step towards a union. Unknown to them,
Nasser had no real intention of taking responsibility for Syria’s problems. He
preferred controlling her foreign affairs from far. Nevertheless, the United
Arab Republic was pronounced on 1 February 1958.
In the meantime, other events were also
taking place in the Arab world. The political structure that the French left in
Lebanon and which favored Maronite Christians was unraveling. According to that
structure, political positions were distributed on the basis of religious
affiliation. The system was no longer tenable by 1958 and civil war broke out
in Lebanon. Chamoun’s attempt to stay on as a president was the immediate cause
of the crisis. A revolution also took place in Iraq but the new government
maintained opposition to Egypt. This government was also to be overthrown in
1963 by Baathists who now supported Egypt.
Arab Politics and Tension with Israel
Wanting to appear strong while avoiding confrontation
All this while, the Arab-Israeli conflict was
also a factor. Having sent his troops to
Yemen in that country’s revolution in 1962, Nasser was keen to avoid any action
that would attract a direct confrontation with Israel even as Syria was
constantly calling just for that. The formation of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO) was part of his plan to deflect attention from Syria’s
demands for military action against Israel. Seeing that the PLO was Nasser’s
ploy and too moderate, Syria decided to channel their support to another
Palestinian organization called FATAH.
Jordan left to her own devices
There were also tensions between Israel on
the one hand and Jordan and Syria on the other side over the use of the waters
of River Jordan.In all this, Jordan occasionally found itself in precarious
situations. Here was a country that hosted many Palestinians and radical Arab
governments like Syria saw her relations with the west as a betrayal. Syria
even supported radical organizations such as Fatah to overthrow King Husayn.
Things were made worse by Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Jordan.
0 comments:
Post a Comment