League of Arab States (LAS)

The League of Arab States (or Arab League) was the first regional organization to be formed after the Second World War. In fact the official establishment of the League on 22 March 1945 even predates the setting up of the United Nations. The origin of the League can be traced back to the adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944 by the representatives of Syria, (then) Transjordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt.2

It was driven by an attempt to unite Arab states (especially for Syria and Transjordan), to resist colonial forces (especially for Lebanon), and to react to the Jewish presence. This protocol eventually opened the way for the establishment of the League of Arab States a year later. During the discussion at the Alexandria Conference there had been heated debate about what form would better represent Arab unity. Syrian and Transjordanian representatives were particularly eager to form a very advanced union that would resemble a confederate structure. However, representatives of Saudi Arabia were less enthusiastic about such a prospect.3 In the end, with the help of the Egyptian delegates, a compromise was found between the two sides and the protocol stated that the future organization’s decisions would only be binding for those that accepted them.4 The protocol also made way for the setting up of a special sub-committee to reflect on the future organization that was to be established among the Arab states. The composition of this sub-committee was very different from the preparatory committee that had participated to the Alexandria Conference. Changes of governments in Egypt and in Lebanon led these two states to adopt a stronger stance against any form of organization that would threaten their national sovereignty. The Lebanese foreign minister thus openly admitted that they “did not want the Arab League to become a state above the states or a federation.”5 The participation in the talks of states that had only been observers in Alexandria also favored a scaling-down of the ambitions regarding Arab unity. As a result, the

outcome of the sub-committee and the document that was drafted to serve as the Pact of the League of Arab States greatly undermined the prospects for an empowered supranational body. The pact did in fact represent a step back from what was proposed in the Alexandria Protocol. The Council of the new organization no longer had the ability to take any kind of binding policies and could only act as a mediator between conflicting parties if they asked the League to do so (article 5).6 The pact also made out a special provision to enable the Council to work with what was to be the United Nations (article 3). Egypt clearly came out as the victorious side following the signing of

the pact.7 Not only had it succeeded in getting the scaling-down of the powers of the organization, but it also managed to ensure that the seat of the League would be in Cairo and that an Egyptian, Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam, would be elected to the post of secretary-general.8 In fact, Egypt would retain the post of secretary-general except when it was expelled from the League between 1979 and 1989 for having signed an agreement with Israel. During this period the seat of the organization was moved from Cairo to Tunis. Egypt and Saudi Arabia would remain at the forefront of the organization, and would manage to temper down the far going integrative efforts supported by Syria, Iraq, and later on Libya. One good example of how Egypt has been able to maneuver the

League so as to have it more in line with the aspirations of Egyptian heads of state is provided by the adoption of the Treaty of Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation.9 In 1949, a joint Iraqi-Syrian plan to unify in order to thwart the Israeli menace and with the aim of clearing the ground for a greater Arab unification was being negotiated (the plan is also known as the Fertile Crescent). Alarmed by this prospect, Egypt soon proposed a new framework that would allow member states to increase their military cooperation. This new plan was to eventually provide for an Arab Collective Security Pact (ACSP) while possible Iraqi-Syrian unification was officially considered as an internal affair that was beyond the League’s competency.10 The Treaty of Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Between the States of the Arab League was eventually signed on 17 June 1950. The treaty provides a framework for collective security between the member states and calls for increased cooperation in the security and military fields. It also makes provisions for the establishment of a Permanent Military Commission tasked with the drawing up of plans for joint defense and their implementation in order to encourage the cooperation and coordination of the contracting states’ armed forces. The treaty also introduced a Joint Defense Council which is under the supervision of the Arab

League Council and is composed of the foreign ministers and the defense ministers of the contracting states. It is in charge of ensuring the collective security of the contracting states and facilitating the cooperation and coordination of the armed forces, and it supervises the work of the Permanent Military Commission. Nevertheless, most of the conditions of the treaty were never implemented by the member states, on the one hand because the treaty itself was established to prevent a “too” integrative Iraqi-Syrian plan, and on the other hand because the signing of the Baghdad Pact in 1955.11