The Arab League

What is Arab League?
History of Arab League.
Function of Arab League.
Member States of Arab League.
Structure of Arab Leauge.
Importance of Arab League behind develop of Arab states.

Arab League

The Arab League is an intergovernmental organization (IGO), a voluntary association of independent

African and Middle East countries whose peoples are mainly Arabic speaking. The stated purposes of the Arab League are to strengthen ties among the member states, coordinate their policies, and promote their common interests. 

The League's main goal is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries

History

Following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945.

It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Kingdom of Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan in 1949), Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. Currently, the League has 22 members,

It aimed to be a regional organisation of Arab states with a focus to developing the economy, resolving disputes and coordinating political aims Other countries later joined the league. Each country was given one vote in the council. The first major action was the joint intervention, allegedly on behalf of the majority Arab population being uprooted as the state of Israel emerged in 1948 (and in response to popular protest in the Arab world), but a major participant in this intervention, Transjordan, had agreed with the Israelis to divide up the Arab Palestinian state proposed by the United Nations General Assembly, and Egypt intervened primarily to prevent its rival in Amman from accomplishing its objective. It was followed by the creation of a mutual defence treaty two years later. A common market was established in 1965.

Member States

Representatives of the first six member states – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia – that initiated the league’s formation signed the agreement in Cairo, on March 22, 1945.

Since then, 16 more states joined the organization and now counts 22 members. They are:

• Algeria

• Bahrain

• Comoros

• Djibouti

• Egypt

• Iraq

• Jordan

• Kuwait

• Lebanon

• Lybia

• Mauritania

• Morocco

• Oman

• Palestine

• Qatar

• Saudi Arabia

• Somalia

• Sudan

• Syria

• Tunisia

• United Arab Emirates

• Yemen

Charter of Arab League

According to the Arab League’s main document, Charter of Arab League, the organization’s main goal is “strengthening of the relations between the member-states, the coordination of their policies in order to achieve co-operation between them and to safeguard their independence and sovereignty; and a general concern with the affairs and interests of the Arab countries.“ These affairs and interests include all important economic issues, including finances, commerce, business, currency, etc. They also include social, cultural and health affais, communication, transport, travel, the question of nationality, visas and passports, and similar.

According to its charter, the founding members of the Arab League (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Yemen) agreed to seek "close cooperation" on matters of economics, communication, culture, nationality, social welfare, and health. They renounced violence for the settlement of conflicts between members and empowered League offices to mediate in such disputes, as well as in those with non-members. Signatories agreed to collaborate in military affairs; this accord was strengthened with a 1950 pact committing members to treat acts of aggression on any member state as an act against all.

The charter established the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, created a permanent General Secretariat, and scheduled sessions to meet biannually, or at the request of two members in extraordinary circumstances. A formal commitment to international human rights law entered League conventions in 2004 (it was ratified in 2008) when some members adopted the Arab Charter on Human Rights.

The charter has an annex on the issue of Palestine. It affirms Palestinian independence and states that "even though the outward signs of this independence have remained veiled as a result of force majeure," an Arab delegate from Palestine should "participate in [the League's] work until this country enjoys actual independence."

The organizational structure of the Arab League

To ensure the effective implementation and realization of the set tasks and functions in LAD created three main bodies, which are the Council of the League, Permanent Committees and the General Secretariat. They enforce the "Agreement on collective security", which was ratified in 1950. In addition to the principal organs, the League has created specialized agencies to consolidate the economic and social policies as a way to separate themselves from the political influence of member states. In the system of government exist League Council on health, tourism and others.

Council of the League

Under the statute, the Council is the highest body in the structure of the League. Constituent agreement is determined by its composition, competence, decision-making and voting process. At work of the League may be attended by representatives of other Arab League.

Article III of the Charter Arab League states that "The League will have a Council, composed of representatives of all member countries." Representatives may be foreign ministers or their representatives. Each member can independently determine the level of its representation, which does not change the nature of the organization.

The Council meets twice a year - in March and in October. its headquarters in Cairo (Egypt), but the meeting of the Board may be made in other designated areas eve (Art. II). The extraordinary session of the Council convened when necessary or at the request of two member states (Art. XI). At each ordinary session, delegates must elect by rotation of the head (Art. XV). In the case of aggression against one country of another member country that is threatened, may require immediate extraordinary meeting of the Council. If aggression committed by the Member LAD, ITS vote will not be taken into account (Art. VI).

Each member has only one vote regardless of the number of representatives. Council Decision adopted unanimously, are binding on all member countries of the League, and they have been adopted by the majority is mandatory only for those member states who voted for them. Mediation or arbitration decisions should be taken by a majority.

If any of the member countries want to withdraw from the League, it must notify the Council of its decision during the year (Art. XVIII).

If the Council considers that a Member State does not fulfill the obligations specified in the memorandum, the Board may terminate its membership in the League by unanimous vote, not counting this country.

Under paragraph III charter of the Arab League, the Council of the League should realize their goals and objectives, enforce signed agreements and contracts. It should identify ways to cooperate with other international organizations in ensuring peace and security and in economic and social fields.

Main functions of the League

-Tracking the implementation of agreements signed country we are members in various fields.

-Peaceful settlement of conflicts through mediation and arbitration.

-Measures to prevent aggression by the Member State.

-Adoption of countries in the organization and termination of its membership.

-Identify ways of cooperation with other international organizations to ensure peace and security.

-Identify the internal organization of the Council Committees and the General Secretariat.

-Approval for the post of Secretary General of the League.

-Definition and approval of the contributions of each member country in the Arab League budget (Art. XIII).

-Approval of the budget LAD (Art. XVI).

-Offer the session.

Council of the League should intervene in a conflict that could lead to war between Member States or between Member States and third state to prevent it

 Politics and administration

The Arab League is a political organization which tries to help integrate its members economically, and solve conflicts involving member states without asking for foreign assistance. It possesses elements of a state representative parliament while foreign affairs are often dealt with under UN supervision.

The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland while respecting the sovereignty of the individual member states. The internal regulations of the Council of the League and the committees were agreed in October 1951. Those of the Secretariat-General were agreed in May 1953.

At the Cairo Summit of 1964, the Arab League initiated the creation of an organisation representing the Palestinian people. The first Palestinian National Council convened in East Jerusalem on 29 May 1964. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was founded during this meeting on 2 June 1964. Palestine was shortly admitted in to the Arab League, represented by the PLO. Today, State of Palestine is a full member of the Arab League.

Military

The Joint Defence Council of the Arab League is one of the Institutions of the Arab League. It was established under the terms of the Joint Defense and Economic Co-operation Treaty of 1950 to coordinate the joint defence of the Arab League member states. 

The Arab League as an Organization has no military Force, like the UN or EU, but at the 2007 summit, the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Darfur, Iraq, and other hot spots.

At a 2015 summit in Egypt, member nations agreed in principle to form a joint military force.[

Economic resources

The Arab League is rich in resources, with enormous oil and natural gas resources in certain member states. Another industry that is growing steadily in the Arab League is telecommunications. Within less than a decade, local companies such as Orascom and Etisalat have managed to compete internationally.

Economic achievements initiated by the League amongst member states have been less impressive than those achieved by smaller Arab organizations such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Among them is the Arab Gas Pipeline, that will transport Egyptian and Iraqi gas to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey. As of 2013, a significant difference in economic conditions exist between the developed oil states of Algeria, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE, and developing countries like Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

A free trade Agreement (GAFTA) is to be completed by 1 January 2008, making 95% of all Arab Products tax free of customs.

Transport

The Arab League is divided into five parts when it comes to transport, with the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East being entirely connected by air, sea, roads and railways. Another part of the League is the Nile Valley, made up of Egypt and Sudan. These two member states have started to improve the River Nile's navigation system to improve accessibility and thus foster trading. A new railway system is also set to connect the southern Egyptian city of Abu Simbel with the northern Sudanese city of Wadi Halfa and then to Khartoum and Port Sudan. The third division of the League is the Maghreb, where a 3,000 km stretch of railway runs from the southern cities of Morocco to Tripoli in Western Libya. The fourth division of the League is the Horn of Africa, whose member states include Djibouti and Somalia. These two Arab League states are separated by only ten nautical miles from the Arabian Peninsula by the Bab el Mandeb and this is quickly changing as Tarik bin Laden, the brother of Osama bin Laden, has initiated the construction of the ambitious Bridge of the Horns project, which ultimately aims to connect the Horn of Africa with the Arabian Peninsula via a massive bridge. The project is intended to facilitate and accelerate the already centuries-old trade and commerce between the two regions. The last division of the League is the isolated island of Comoros, which is not physically connected to any other Arab state, but still trades with other League members.

Religion

Almost all of the Arab League's citizens adhere to Islam, with Christianity being the second largest religion. At least 15 million Christians combined live in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan and Syria. In addition, there are smaller but significant numbers of Druze, Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandaeans. Numbers for nonreligious Arabs are generally not available, but research by the Pew Forum suggests around 1% of people in the MENA region are "unaffiliated".

Linguistics

The official language of the Arab League is Literary Arabic, based on Classical Arabic. However, several Arab League member states have other co-official or national languages, such as Somali, Berber, Kurdish, Assyrian, and Nubian. Additionally, various different Arabic dialects are spoken, such as Egyptian Arabic, Levantine Arabic and Moroccan Arabic.

Sports

The Pan Arab Games are considered the biggest Arab sporting event, which brings together athletes from all the Arab countries to participate in a variety of different sports.

The Union of Arab Football Associations organises the Arab Nations Cup (for national teams) and the Arab Club Championship (for clubs). Arab sport federations also exist for several games, include basketball, volleyball, handball, table tennis, tennis, squash and swimming.

Conclusion

Through various activities, campaigns and using advanced technology, The Arab League has shown interest in resolving modern day issues, like encouraging and promoting their young talents, supporting women in their struggle for equality, improving child welfare, etc. It also tries to solve decades-old problems like the conflict between Palestine and Israel. The league is very active in drafting a solution that would end war between the Israeli and the surrounding Muslim countries. The organization strives to resolve burning issues among the Arab countries, and to better the overall image of the Muslim nations in the world today.