A Arab League is an international organization founded in 1945 and made up of 22 Arab territories located in the Middle East and in the northern region of the African continent. Among these territories is Palestine.
Also called the League of Arab States, it aims to intensify social and cultural ties between its members, in addition to expanding economic and political cooperation. This organization also aims to defend Arab territories to guarantee their internal sovereignty, although it is not uncommon for political, economic and religious conflicts to occur between their members.
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Summary about the Arab League
The Arab League is an international organization formed by 22 Arab territories located in the Middle East and North Africa.
It was founded in 1945, in the city of Cairo, Egypt, where its headquarters are located.
Its objective is to strengthen socioeconomic, cultural and political relations between the territories, in addition to the joint protection and maintenance of their sovereignty.
Its structure is made up of: Council, General Secretariat, Joint Defense Council and Economic and Social Council.
From its creation to the present, several internal conflicts motivated by political, economic or religious issues have occurred in the organization.
The League is currently working on a potential resolution or mediation of the war between the Hamas group and Israel, which directly affects Palestinian Arab civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Brazil maintains diplomatic and economic relations with the Arab League countries.
What is the Arab League?
The Arab League, or League of Arab States, is a alliance intergovernmental formed by Arab countries located in North Africa and the Middle East. It was established in 1945 as a result of the movement known as pan-Arabism, which aims to union of Arabic-speaking countries and territories, based on their cultural and historical origin in common. The headquarters of the Arab League is located in the city of Cairo, capital of Egypt.
Structure of the Arab League
The structure of the Arab League is made up of the following bodies:
Advice: main decision-making and mediating body of the Arab League, made up of all member countries and their respective representatives. Its meetings are held twice a year, and all countries that make up the organization have the right to vote during decisions and discussions held within this entity.
General Secretariat: body that carries out the administration of the Arab League and the execution of policies and decisions adopted at Council meetings.
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Joint Defense Council: it deals with matters directly linked to the protection and defense of the territories of the members of the Arab League, being composed of the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of each of them.
Economic and Social Council: body composed of the Ministers of Economy of the countries and territories of the Arab League, being responsible for dealing with issues within the scope of economic cooperation and socioeconomic development of its members.
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Arab League member countries
The Arab League is made up of 22 members in total. Of these, seven can be considered founding members and have been present in the organization since its creation in 1945. Below, check out the organization's full membership list.
Members of the Arab League | |
Saudi Arabia |
Algeria |
Bahrain |
Qatar |
Comoros |
Djibouti |
Egypt |
United Arab Emirates |
Yemen |
Iraq |
Jordan |
Kuwait |
Lebanon |
Libya |
Morocco |
Mauritania |
Oman |
Palestine |
Syria |
Somalia |
Sudan |
Tunisia |
Objectives of the Arab League
The Arab League was conceived with the aim of strengthen It is strengthen political, economic and cultural ties between countries and the territories Arabs located in the Middle East and the north of the African continent, as well as promoting the coordination of policies to be implemented in each of these areas. This intergovernmental organization was also created with the aim of mediating and resolving conflicts that occur between the territories that make up it.
Internal conflicts in the Arab League
Even though one of the objectives of the Arab League is to mediate conflicts between its members, this does not mean that it does not a series of clashes between these countries and territories have been recorded throughout the period of validity of this organization. The internal conflicts that took place and still take place in the Arab League are of a political (territorial), economic and religious nature.
One of the main internal demands within the scope of the Arab League, and which characterizes a regional geopolitical conflict, é the Question of Palestine. This is the struggle of the Palestinian Arab people for recognition of their territory, which began even before the formation of the Arab League and continues to the present. This dispute is fought with Israel, which occupies a central position in the main diplomatic differences identified in common in the Arab countries of the Middle East.
About a decade after the formation of the Arab League, more precisely in 1956, Egypt faced what became known as Suez Crisis or Suez War, The dispute over control of the Suez Canal between the African country and Israel, which received support from France and Great Britain. Tensions between Israel and Egypt were partially resolved with the signing of a Peace Treaty in 1979, which resulted in the Arab country being suspended from the League. Even the organization's headquarters are temporarily no longer in Cairo. Relations between Egypt and the Arab League were only resumed in 1987.
Between Egypt's suspension and reintegration into the Arab League, Six Day War (1967), between Egypt, Jordan and Syria, and war between Iran and Iraq, motivated by the implementation of the Islamic Revolution in Iranian territory and by issues of a political nature. When it comes to political disagreements between the members of the Arab League, we also have the outbreak of Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait, between 1990 and 1991. Two aggravating factors in this conflict, which divided local countries, were the involvement of Saudi Arabia and the request for support from Western troops.
These are just some of the internal conflicts in the Arab League. Civil wars, such as the one that occurred in Lebanon in the 1980s and the one that has raged in Syria since 2011, can also be considered as disputes that take place within the group. Still thinking about 2011, we have the beginning of the Arab Spring, which sparked a series of protests and clashes in the countries where it occurred. In this context, the Libyan Revolution broke out, which led to its suspension in the Arab League due to the government's violent reaction to the protests organized in the country.
We cannot fail to mention, in addition, the disagreements due to regional and international hegemony between the Arab League countries. This dispute of forces and, mainly, of power, of religious, political and economic influence involves Saudi Arabia and Iran.
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History of the Arab League
A creation of the Arab League followed the approval of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944. This document was signed in the Egyptian city of Alexandria by five Arab countries, and provided for the creation of a organization to foster cooperation and strengthen alliances between countries with the same historical origin and cultural.
A founding of the Arab League included seven countries:
Egypt;
Iraq;
Lebanon;
Syria;
Saudi Arabia;
Yemen;
Transjordan (present-day Jordan).
In the years that followed, new members were incorporated into the organization. So that the territories occupied by Palestinians, who also have Arab origins, could be part of the League, the organization itself suggested, during the Cairo Summit in 1964, the creation of some entity that could play a representative role in relation to the people Palestinian. Following this guidance, The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed that same year.
The PLO became part of the Arab League as an observer. Twelve years later, in 1976, the entity representing Palestine was made official as a member of the Arab League. It is noted that, despite political involvement in this matter, the League was more concerned with sociocultural and economic issues until then, in addition to having signed a protection agreement between the bloc countries to guarantee the sovereignty of the countries Arabs. It was from 1979 onwards that politics became part of the work of this body on a larger scale.
Since then, the Arab League has been active in inter-regional cooperation and in economic and geopolitical issues, mainly, which are of direct interest to their members or that affect the integrity and national security of their respective territories.
Arab League and Brazil
To the Relations between the Arab League and Brazil are, for the most part, commercial.During the 1950s, a delegation representing this organization was installed in Brazilian territory, and the The country officially recognized the diplomatic role of the Arab League in 1975, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The League's representation in Brazil had been closed in 1995, but was reopened through what became known as the Headquarters Agreement, in 2009.
O Brazil was present at meetings and consultations with representatives of the Arab League, discussing various topics for cooperation ranging from health emergencies, such as the covid-19 pandemic, to cultural and economic issues. In the last sector, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlights the surplus trade balance between Brazil and the Arab League. The country exports items such as sugar, meat, corn and iron ore.
Brazil was recently invited to the Peace Summit held in Egypt, a member of the Arab League, in order to participate in discussions and the elaboration of potential solutions to achieve a ceasefire in the war between Israel and the Hamas group, which has victimized thousands of people in Israeli territory and Palestine, mainly in the Gaza Strip.
Current role of the Arab League
Currently the Arab League deals with conflicts occurring in its member countriess and in the regions in which they are located. During the civil war taking place in Syria, the country was suspended from the Arab League due to the government's reaction to protests that took place internally. Last year, in 2023, the president of Syria was allowed to resume his position in the League.
Also in 2003, an attack carried out by the paramilitary group Hamas on Tel-Aviv, a city in Israel, triggered a violent reaction in the country and the installation of a war between the Israelis and members of Hamas. As a result, a series of bombings were carried out in the Gaza Strip, part of Palestine, which created a crisis humanitarian aid in the locality, with the death of thousands of civilians, both in the Palestinian territory and in the Israeli.
A Arab League acts today to protect Palestinian Arab citizens and to maintain the territorial integrity of the territory of Palestine, both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Furthermore, the group acts together with other international actors, in order to try to guarantee a ceasefire in the region and prevent Palestinians from being forced to leave their homes and, consequently, their territory.
Image credits
[1]Anas-Mohammed / Shutterstock
Sources:
ALECSO – Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization. Available in: https://www.alecso.org/nsite/en/.
LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES. Available in: http://www.leagueofarabstates.net/en/Pages/default.aspx.
MARTINS, Sofia Lopes. The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the context of the League of Arab States. In: Petrel Magazine, v. 5, no. 2, May. 2023. Available in: http://www.petrel.unb.br/destaques/197-revista-petrel-v-5-n-2-maio-2023.
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. League of Arab States. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 24 Apr. 2014. Available in: https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/assuntos/mecanismos-internacionais/mecanismos-inter-regionais/liga-dos-estados-arabes.
OLIVEIRA, Marco. What is the Arab League? Mexican Center for International Relations, 23 Jan. 2022. Available in: https://cemeri.org/enciclopedia/e-que-es-liga-arabe-aw.