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The Council of the Arab League met in Cairo beginning December II, 1954, and adopted several recommendations proposed by the League's Political Committee which had finished its session on December 9. The Council approved of the participation of the League members in the forthcoming conference of Asian and African countries in Bandung, Indonesia, approved the appointment of Faha Hussein (Egypt) as chairman of the Arab League Cultural Committee, decided that Jordan's home guard should be strengthened, and agreed that Syria should lodge with the United Nations Security Council, on behalf of Jordan, a complaint against Israel diversion of the waters of the Jordan River. The 23d regular session of the Council opened in Cairo on March 27,1955.

CouncilThe 19th session of the Council of the Arab League met in Cairo on September 7, 1953. It was announced that delegations at the United Nations of member states, in concert with delegations of Asian and African countries, would continue efforts to bring the Moroccan and Tunisian complaints before the General Assembly. The Council expressed the hope that the General Assembly could "persuade France to respond to the legal aspirations of Morocco and Tunisia" and thus enable the Arab League to avoid "taking certain measures which Arab public opinion is insisting on". The Council added that the member states did not recognize "the illegal conditions imposed by the French authorities in Morocco". The Council endorsed agreements signed by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan for the exchange of agricultural and animal products without customs duties, for the exchange of industrial products at favorable rates, and for the transfer and investment of capital between Arab countries. It was also reported that the Council had agreed to a suggestion of the Jordanian government that members of the Arab League help finance the Jordan National Guard with a sum of £1 million, one-half from League funds and the other from subscriptions from members on the basis of their contributions to the League. A further request from Jordan for £2 million to raise living standards in villages bordering Israel and for £0.5 million for reconstruction in Jerusalem and reclamation of agricultural lands was reported to be under consideration.

The Political Committee of the Arab League met in Alexandria on August 14, 1950 to prepare a common program for the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. It was also reported in the press, however, that one of the main subjects for discussion was the wide divergence of opinion among the Arab states, concerning United Nations intervention in Korea, the Palestine problem, the nomination of an Arab state to the United Nations Security Council, to which Lebanon and Turkey had announced themselves candidates, and the proposals of the United Nations Conciliation Commission for the solution of the Palestine problem. Press reports further indicated that Egypt had agreed that the question of Jordan's status in the League, after the annexation of east Palestine, would not come up again until the October meeting of the Council of the League. The League was reported as anxious to obtain United Nations recognition as a regional organization with official standing, similar to that of the Organization of American States. As a preliminary to such recognition it was believed necessary to obtain the signatures of all the League members to the collective security pact which had been adopted by the Council at its last meeting. On August 17, 1950 the Political Committee decided to direct its members to inform the United Nations that the demands concerning Arab refugees in Palestine would be pressed in the General Assembly, and would insist on concrete implementation of the United Nations resolutions calling for the return of Arab refugees to their original homes and the internationalization of Jerusalem.

During the period under review the attention of the member countries of the Arab League was focused on the meetings of the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission in Lausanne, Switzerland. The British proclamation of self-rule for Cyrenaica on June 2 did, however, call for comment from the League. The move was interpreted as an attempt to create a British protectorate on Egypt's frontier and an attempt to further weaken the Arab countries through partition of one of them. Abdul Rahman Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, in a formal statement of protest, stated, "It is indeed regrettable that British policy in Libyan questions is based solely on Britain's own interests. Britain has not tried to reach an understanding concerning a policy that would satisfy the Arab people."

The economic council of the Arab League was reported in January 1956 to have approved the establishment of an inter-Arab organization for economic development to be financed jointly by member states in proportion to their contribution to the general League funds. The capital of the new organizaton was to be £20 million. The economic council also approved the formation of a company to exploit Dead Sea minerals with headquarters at Amman, Jordan; the capital would be £4 million.

The Arab League Collective Security Pact entered into force on August 23, 1952, following the deposit of the instrument of ratification of Iraq. Saudi Arabia signed the pact on August 18.During the period reviewed, both the Council and Political Committee of the League held several meetings to consider such political matters as the boycott against Israel, possible united action by the Arab League members against the German Federal Republic if an indemnity treaty with Israel were ratified, and policies to be pursued by Arab League members in the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly. The sixteenth session of the Council, which had opened on March 16 only to adjourn immediately sine die, resumed meeting in Cairo from September 10 to 23. The agenda of the meeting, over which Aly Maher (Egypt) presided, included 1) general Arab political problems, 2) proposals for the establishment of an Institute of Arab Studies at Columbia University, 3) the budget, 4) organization of Arab propaganda, 5) education of children of Arab refugees, 6) Lebanon's proposal to reorganize the Council's inner structure, 7) the question of opening Council meetings to the public, and 8) the founding of an Arab Court of Justice. The Council decided to hold its meetings in secret.

The Arab League Collective Security Pact was signed by the government of Jordan on February 16, 1952.1 The pact had previously been initialed by the six other members of the Arab League and ratified by the governments of Egypt and Syria. Ratification by the governments of Iraq and Jordan followed in March.3 In accordance with Article 13, the treaty would come into effect for the ratifying states fifteen days after receipt by the Secretariat General of instruments of ratification from four states

A two-week session of the Arab League concluded in Cairo on February 2, 1951. On January 27, the League issued a statement that the Political Committee had examined the Libyan question and that after hearing a report of the Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mohamed Salah el Din Bey) on the developments of that question in the United Nations, had authorized the Egyptian government to continue its study of the problem so that the United Nations decision relative to the independence of Libya should be implemented.

A meeting of representatives of the member states of the Arab League was held in Cairo on April 28–29, 1965. During the session, which was boycotted by Tunisia, a resolution was adopted under which the Arab heads of state rejected any call for recognition, reconciliation, or coexistence with Israel and declared that recognition of Israel in exchange for the repatriation of the Palestinian Arabs would be a deviation from Arab unanimity on the Palestine cause and from the Charter of the Arab League. The representatives also reaffirmed Arab support for previous Arab summit resolutions on the Palestine question, including a unified Arab command, on the "Palestine Liberation Organization," and on Arab schemes for diverting the headwaters of the Jordan River. The resolution, however, did not provide for the expulsion of Tunisia from the Arab League and its exclusion from all future Arab summit meetings, demands made by Ahmed Shukairy, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Mr. Shukairy walked out of the meeting on April 29, but he was later persuaded to return.

On August 4, 1957, it was reported that the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Abdel Khalig Hassouna, had submitted a note to the member states of the Bandung conference requesting support of Oman. Asserting that Oman was the object of United Kingdom aggression, the note sought to emphasize the gravity of the situation. It was reported on August 8 that the political committee of the Arab League was meeting in Cairo to consider the situation. According to the press, on August 10 the committee heard a report by Sheikh Mohamed el Harithy, director of the Oman Imamatc office in Cairo, who also submitted a memorandum reportedly containing the texts of the message from the United Kingdom government to the Oman tribal chiefs in 1919 and the Muscat-Oman treaty of 1920. On August 12 eight members of the League's sitting committee, Jordan not being represented, constituted themselves the League Council and issued a resolution stating that 1) armed intervention by United Kingdom forces in Oman constituted a flagrant aggression against Oman's independence and sovereignty and the security of its territory; 2) League members should collectively demand an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to deal with the matter and halt the United Kingdom intervention, which was a threat to the peace and security of the Middle East as well as a breach of international law and the UN Charter; and 3) the Arab states must exert urgent efforts with other UN Members to uphold Oman in its just cause.

Established on March 22, 1945, the Arab League has envisaged a development of Arab unity through a regional planning program designed to provide a nucleus which would facilitate political cooperation in the Arab Near East. Salient objectives of the League, as set out in its covenant, include protection of the independence of member states, and close cooperation between member states in economic and financial affairs, problems connected with nationality, passports, visas and extradition, and public health and social matters. Special committees organized under the provisions of the League Pact have endeavoured to promote economic and social development by proposing such measures as 1) a draft treaty for a unified educational system which would include exchange of students and teachers, and development of libraries, 2) establishment of permanent offices on cultural affairs and legal problems, 3) development of trade and communications, 4) a postal union, customs union, common citizenship and a passport system. These committees, while able to formulate draft agreements, were to submit such agreements first to the Council and then to the several Arab states for approval.

The agenda of the Arab League Council meeting in Cairo during the last three weeks of February i960 reportedly centered around consideration of "the whole Palestine case in all its aspects," comprising such problems as organization of the Palestinian people, formation of a Palestine defense army, use of the waters of the Jordan River for irrigation purposes, representation of the Palestine people by a legitimate body to speak in their name, and proposals for reactivization of the UN Arab-Israeli conciliation commission.' The agenda also included discussion of the Algerian question, with representatives of the self-proclaimed Algerian provisional government expected to ask the League to support proposals put forward by the recent All African Peoples' Conference in Tunis for the organization of a force of Arab-African volunteers to help the Algerian nationalists. The first debate of the meeting was said to have occurred over the absence of two League members, Iraq and Tunisia, the leaders of which were at odds with President Nasser of the United Arab Republic. Cablegrams stressing the importance of their participation in the Cairo discussions were dispatched to the two countries at the suggestion of the foreign minister of Jordan.

The Council of the Arab League met at Cairo from October 17 to 30, 1949, to consider the following agenda items: 1) Palestinian Arab refugees, 2) internationalization of Jerusalem, 3) coordination of Arab states' policy at the United Nations, 4) the possibility of unifying Arab passports, 5) a budget for 1950, and 6) such policy questions as might be raised during the course of the meeting. The policy question receiving most discussion was an Egyptian proposal for an Arab League collective security pact. Such a pact was agreed to in principle and a committee of legal and military experts was assigned the drafting of the details of the pact for consideration by the Council or its political committee.

Following the United States withdrawal of its offer to provide assistance to Egypt for the Aswan high dam project, and the consequent nullification of United Kingdom and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development offers of assistance on the project, the government of Egypt on July 26, 1956 announced its decision to nationalize the Suez Canal Company, the authority for the canal under the Constantinople Convention of 1888; Premier Nasser of Egypt was reported to have stated that the revenue from the canal would be used to finance the Aswan high dam. Talks on common policy among the members of the Arab League ensued, with Syria reported to be taking the lead; negotiations between Syria and Egypt for a federal union, to be open to other Arab countries, were reported to encompass unity in military, economic and foreign policies and in financial, cultural and communications matters. The Arab League Political Committee, in a meeting called at the initiative of Syria and concluded on August 12, expressed full support for the Egyptian government's Suez Canal policy. In two resolutions adopted by the Committee also unanimously approved by a meeting of the Arab League Council on August 13, the members of the League 1) proclaimed their solidarity with Egypt in the latter's determination to preserve its sovereignty and national rights, and considered aggression against any Arab state to be an act of hostility directed against all Arab states; and 2) approved the declaration of Egypt that it was prepared to convene a conference in conjunction with states signatory to the 1888 Constantinople Convention governing the use of the canal, as well as other states whose ships made use of the canal, with the object of concluding an agreement to which all those states might adhere to insure freedom of navigation in the canal.

Questions concerning Palestine and United Nations action regarding its future governmental structure were the chief concern of the Arab League during the latter part of 1947.Although members of the Arab League had earlier cooperated with the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, the presentation of the committee's report on September 3, 1947, brought forth a change of policy. On September 19, the League's political committee, meeting at Sófar, Lebanon, adopted a series of resolutions which denounced the UNSCOP report and threatened armed resistance if it was implemented. The committee not only inveighed against the majority recommendations, which called for a creation of independent Arab and Jewish states in Palestine, but also against the minority recommendation, which suggested a federal state with 'parity' between Arabs and Jews.