Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Walter Laqueur and Barry Rubin, eds., 

The Israel-Arab Reader (New York: Penguin, 2001); Avi 

Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World (New 

York: Norton, 2001); Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the 

K  56  

Arab-Israeli conflicts

---

Arab-Israeli Conflict (New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 

1995).

Arab League

 

(official name: League of 

Arab States)

The Arab League was founded in 1945 to serve 

the collective interests of Arab countries that had 

achieved their independence from European colo-

nial rule. The founding members were e

gypt

, i

raq

, 

J

ordan

, l

ebanon

, s

yria

, s

aUdi

 a

rabia

, and y

emen

.

An additional 15 nations have become members 

since 1945: a

lgeria

, Bahrain, Comoros Islands, 

Djibouti, Kuwait, l

ibya

, Mauritania, m

orocco

,

Oman,  p

alestine

, Qatar, Somalia, s

Udan

,  t

Uni

-

sia

, and United Arab Emirates. The Arab League, 

which has its permanent headquarters in c

airo

,

Egypt, is a secular organization that is guided 

by the ideal of Arab unity and cooperation. It 

is a forum where Arab states address common 

issues relating to politics, law, security, transpor-

tation, communication, economic development, 

and social and cultural affairs. The league’s char-

ter requires a secretary general as its chief officer, 

but the supreme authority for the organization 

is held by its council, which is composed of rep-

resentatives from the member states. The league 

convenes summit meetings at least twice a year, 

which are often attended by heads of state.

Despite the ideal of unity, there are serious 

divisions within the organization that have been 

caused by economic inequality, differences in 

political organization and philosophy, personality 

clashes among leaders, and various historical and 

cultural factors. For example, Egypt’s domination 

of the league under the leadership of President 

Jamal Abd al-Nasir (1918–70), a strong secularist, 

caused Saudi Arabia to create the m

Uslim

 W

orld

l

eagUe

 in 1962. Later, Egypt was expelled from 

the league for signing a peace treaty with Israel 

in 1979, but it was reinstated in 1987. In another 

example of disunity, members were unable to 

peacefully resolve the crisis caused when Iraq 

invaded Kuwait in 1990. They have also been 

unable to form a common front for ending the 

a

rab

-i

sraeli

 

conFlicts

, although they did pass a 

unanimous resolution in March 2002 that called 

for recognition of i

srael

 in exchange for Israeli 

withdrawal from occupied territories in the West 

Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights. Divisions con-

tinue to afflict the organization in the aftermath of 

the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its 

allies in March 2003 and the Lebanese-Israeli war 

that erupted in July 2006.