ABSTRACT
Pan-Arabism aims at uniting all Arabs from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf; it demands independence for states, but never mentions the freedom of the individual. Abdel Nasser sees himself as the fulfiller of the dream of Arab unity; whoever opposes him is ipso facto an enemy of the Arab nation, and his destruction is, so to speak, predestined by fate. Cairo has been opening its arms to all political refugees, offering them asylum, money and the opportunity for propaganda and political subversion in their home country. That Abdel Nasser is constantly using pan-Islamism as a political weapon became clear during his attack on the Shah of Persia for reaffirming Persia’s de facto recognition of Israel. Cairo’s African policy is essentially a combination of pan-Africanism and pan-Islamism. Islam is the only link between the Arabs in the north, who, as is well known, describe themselves as ‘whites’, and the blacks of the continent.
