ITS LIMITATIONS

STRUGGLE FOR ARAB UNITY—AND . By Michael Banda Just as the Suez nationalization—despite a military defeat for Nasser—gave a tremendous fillip to the growth of Arab national consciousness, so too the unification of Syria and Egypt, despite the obvious and numerous limitations, threatens to disrupt the precarious balance of forces in this very vulnerable area.

The idea of Arab unity is a very old one, but took a long time to mature, being hampered bythe extreme backwardness of the region, by the lack of modern communications and by dynastic conflicts.

The building of the Hejaz railway by the Turks, by bring- ; ing the tribes and towns of the Arabian peninsula into closer contact, did more to cement the unity of Arab nationalism - than much of the propaganda of the secret societies.

The first attempt of the Arab people in 1916 (led by Hussein, Sherif .of Mecca, and the tribesmien of the Arabian peninsula) to unite Arabia with Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq proved abortive. _ Doe This was the famous revolt immortalized by Lawrence and betrayed by his government.

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This betrayal tock the form of the Balfour declaration of 1917 and the Sykes-Picot agreement in 1916. The former. proposed to create a Zionist enclave in the heart of the Arab homeland; the latter proposed to «dismember the Arab nation.

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Arab revolt went on Under'the terms of the Sykes-Picot agreement geographical Syria (ie., Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan) and Iraq were divided into spheres of influence.. Lebanon and Syria (together with Mosul) went to the French, Iraq and Jordan were grabbed by Britain. Palestine was placed under an international trusteeship.

The international trusteeship of Palestine was later modified to become the British mandate.

The Arab revolt did not end with the expulsion of Hussein . ~ from his capital, Damascus. In Iraq in 1920°a new revolt broke out which lasted three months and cost the British government £40 million.

During the same period Egypt witnessed the birth of a powerful national movement, led by the Wafd, which strove to overthrow the British protectorate. ;

A third rebellion against imperialism flared-up in Levant. This was the insurrection of the Jebel Druse in 1925, which threatened to throw the French out of Syria.

Arab unity received a new and invigorating impulse during the second world war. Owing to. the Allied blockade, trade between the Arab countries trebled. Industry grew.

The defeat of the British by Rommel’s armies shattered the myth of British invincibility, In Iraq the ill-fated coup of Rashid-Ali nearly toppled British power. In Syria and Lebanon the. struggle against the French was resumed and resulted in the winning of complete independence in 1946.

The first condition for Arab unity .is the economic integration of all the Arab countries. This remains a hopeless objective so long as imperialism continues to dominate the Middle East, its finances, its commerce, its industry.

From this standpoint the unity of Syria and Egypt—and thorough-going social and political revolution which would abolish landlordism, usury and all the other evils of an aborted capitalism.

Neither Kuwatly nor Nasser, but only the Arab workers,. . can achieve this. * A former colleague of Pat Dooley’s writes: