(League of Arab States; Jamiat al-duwal al-arabiya), a regional organization of independent Arab states, founded Mar. 22, 1945, at a Cairo conference of representatives of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan (from 1946, Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen (from 1962 the Yemen Arab Republic). It was later joined by Libya (1953), Sudan (1956), Tunisia (1958), Morocco (1958), Kuwait (1961), Algeria (1962), the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (1967), Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (1971), and the Somali Democratic Republic (1974). Since 1964 the Palestine Liberation Organization has participated in the work of the league.
The Arab League’s covenant calls for “strengthening the ties between the participant states and coordinating their political program in such a way as to effect real collaboration between them, to preserve their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in general the affairs and interests of the Arab countries.” The covenant calls for cooperation between the Arab states in economics, culture, and other fields.
As the national liberation movement in the Arab countries gained strength, particularly after the July Revolution of 1952 in Egypt, the Arab League played an important role in coordinating the actions of its members in support of the struggle of individual Arab countries for freedom and national independence. The league has called for and continues to call for the fullest possible unification of the Arab countries against imperialist plans aimed at establishing neocolonial regimes in the Middle East and at drawing the Arab countries into the imperialist sphere of influence. The league has consistently supported its members’ demands for the liquidation of foreign bases on their territory.
The league has strongly condemned the Israeli aggression that began in June 1967 against the Arab countries as well as the support shown to Israel by international imperialism and Zionism. The league has advanced a series of proposals aimed at working out a unified political and economic strategy for the Arab countries to liquidate the consequences of Israeli aggression. The Khartoum conference of heads of Arab states in August 1967 decided on ways to struggle for the liberation of Israeli-occupied lands and to give aid, including financial, to countries that are victims of aggression. Sessions held by the league’s Joint Defense Council in November 1971, November 1972, and January 1973 were instrumental in unifying the Arab states’ military, political, and economic efforts in the struggle against Israeli aggression. When military actions were renewed in the Middle East in October 1973, the league helped coordinate the actions of the Arab countries in exerting pressure on Israel and its supporters; one of the leading tactics was the limitation on the production and supply of Arab oil for the international market.
The league’s executive organ is the council, composed either of the heads or the prime ministers of the Arab states or of representatives designated by them. The council also has the Joint Defense Council, a political committee, an economic council, the Unitary Arab Command, and other bodies. Between council sessions (held twice yearly), the league’s activities are supervised by a general secretary, who is elected to a five-year term. The decisions of the league council and of organizations tied to the league (including the Common Market of Arab States, since 1964, and the Arab Financial Institution for Economic Development, since 1959) are binding only for those member states that voted for them. The league’s headquarters are in Cairo.