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The Arab League as an organization has no military force, like the United Nations or the European Union, but in the 2007 summit, the Leaders decided to reactivate their joint defense and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Iraq, South Sudan, Federal Republic of Ethiopia and other hot spots. [1]
The military history of the Arab League is closely linked to the Arab–Israeli conflict. The 1950 Arab Joint Security Pact set out provisions for collective security among the Arab states, but only in 1961 was the Joint Arab Command (JAC) proposed as a unified military command for the Arab League first by the Joint Defence Council, an institution of the Arab League.
Before the JAC could take shape, a unanimous resolution was passed at the first Arab League summit (January 1964) establishing the United Arab Command (UAC), although the UAC's inactivity following the Samu Incident (1966) and during the Six-Day War (1967) signalled its de facto dissolution.
The Arab Liberation Army (جيش الإنقاذ العربي Jaysh al-Inqadh al-Arabi), also translated as Arab Countries Salvation Army, was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, though in fact the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force. [2]
At the meeting in Damascus on 5 February 1948 to organize Palestinian Field Commands, Northern Palestine including Samaria was allocated to Qawuqji's forces, although Samaria was de facto already under the control of Transjordan. [3]
The Arab League Military Committee, with headquarters in Damascus, was responsible for the movements and servicing of the Army. The Committee consisted of General: Ismail Safwat (Iraq, Commander-in-Chief), General: Taha al-Hashimi (Iraq), Colonel: Shuqayri (Lebanon), Colonel: Muhammed al-Hindi (Syria) and Colonel: Abd al-Qadir al-Jundi (Transjordan).*
The ALA was dissolved at the end of the Palestine War. [4]
Egypt's membership was suspended in 1979 after it signed a peace treaty with Israel; the league's headquarters was moved from Cairo, Egypt, to Tunis, Tunisia. In 1987, AL leaders decided to renew diplomatic ties with Egypt, who was readmitted in 1989 and the league's headquarters was moved back to Cairo. [5] [6]
| member state | Active | Reserve | Paramilitary | Total | Per 1,000 capita | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| total | active | ||||||
 | Algeria | 520,000 | 150,000 | 18,7,200 | 857,200 | 19.2 | 11.6 |
 | Bahrain | 18,400 | 35,805 | 11,260 | 65,465 | 9,461,381.3 | 2659274.7 |
 | Comoros | 1,000 | 2,000 | 50 | 3,050 | 3.6 | 1.2 |
 | Djibouti | 20,470 | 12,220 | 2,650 | 35,340 | 36.9 | 21.4 |
 | Egypt | 438,500 | 479,000 | 397,000 | 1,314,500 | 10,896,417.2 | 3634902.2 |
 | Iraq | 193,000 | 664,169 | 230,000 | 1,087,169 | 23,989,777.5 | 4258792.4 |
 | Jordan | 100,500 | 65,000 | 15,000 | 180,500 | 16,144,081.4 | 8988809.9 |
 | Kuwait | 72,000 | 24,000 | 7,100 | 103,100 | 24,006,775 | 16765158.1 |
 | Lebanon | 95,000 | 35,000 | 20,000 | 150,000 | 28,318,910.2 | 17935309.8 |
 | Libya | 35,000 | 65,000 | 100 | 100,100 | 14,189,538.5 | 4961377.1 |
 | Mauritania | 31,540 | 66,000 | 5,000 | 102,540 | 22,218,976.7 | 6834274.7 |
 | Morocco | 195,000 | 150,000 | 50,000 | 395,000 | 10.4 | 5.1 |
 | Oman | 128,000 | 100,000 | 4,400 | 232,400 | 51,410,572 | 28315633.5 |
 | Palestine | 120,000 | 20,000 | 50 | 140,050 | 26,792,582.6 | 22956871.9 |
 | Qatar | 66,550 | 15,000 | 5,000 | 86,550 | 30,960,649.4 | 23806253.2 |
 | Saudi Arabia | 257,000 | 250,000 | 24,500 | 531,500 | 13,840,785.4 | 6692534 |
 | Somalia | 115,530 | 20,000 | 100 | 135,630 | 7,947,380.8 | 6769600.4 |
 | Sudan | 109,300 | 85,000 | 17,500 | 211,800 | 4.3 | 2.2 |
 | Syria | 170,000 | 150,000 | 100,000 | 420,000 | 19 | 7.7 |
 | Tunisia | 89,800 | 40,000 | 12,000 | 141,800 | 12.1 | 7.7 |
 | United Arab Emirates | 65,000 | 130,000 | 200 | 195,200 | 21,058,055.1 | 7012159.7 |
 | Yemen | 66,700 | 50,000 | 100 | 116,800 | 3,407,471.9 | 1945876.5 |
 | Arab League | 2.990,290 | 2.588,194 | 1.006,610 | 6.585094 | 14.2 | 6.5 |
| Member state | Population | GDP (nominal) ($billions) [9] | Defence expenditure (US$) [10] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total ($millions) | % real GDP | |||
| Algeria | 44,700,000 | 187.155 | 9,145.8 | 4.78 |
| Bahrain | 1,463,265 | 43.544 | 1,381.3 | 3.17 |
| Comoros | 850,886 | 1.242 | — | — |
| Djibouti | 957,273 | 3.725 | 36.6 | 2.63 |
| Egypt | 104,635,983 | 469.094 | 4,645.9 | 1.06 |
| Iraq | 45,318,011 | 282.876 | 4,683.1 | 1.67 |
| Jordan | 11,180,568 | 48.066 | 2,323.3 | 4.84 |
| Kuwait | 4,294,621 | 183.568 | 8,244.1 | 4.53 |
| Lebanon | 5,296,814 | 21.780 | 4,739.0 | 3.37 |
| Libya | 7,054,493 | 40.836 | 3,755.7 | 15.48 |
| Mauritania | 4,614,974 | 10.091 | 225.4 | 2.27 |
| Morocco | 37,984,655 | 142.874 | 4,995.0 | 3.90 |
| Oman | 4,520,471 | 108.969 | 5,783.5 | 5.17 |
| Palestine | 5,227,193 | 18.818 | — | — |
| Qatar | 2,795,484 | 221.369 | 15,412.1 | 6.96 |
| Saudi Arabia | 38,401,000 | 1,010.588 | 7,5013.3 | 7.42 |
| Somalia | 17,066,000 | 8.416 | 115.1 | — |
| Sudan | 49,197,555 | 42.762 | 3,180.5 | 0.92 |
| Syria | 22,125,249 | 11.080 | 2,494.9 | 4.06 |
| Tunisia | 11,708,370 | 46.282 | 1,156.2 | 2.48 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9,269,612 | 503.913 | 22,755.1 | 5.64 |
| Yemen | 34,277,612 | 27.594 | 1,714.8 | 3.97 |
| Arab League | 462,940,089 | 3,434.640 | 168,995.41 | 4.44 |
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had been issued earlier that day, and a military coalition of Arab states entered the territory of Mandatory Palestine in the morning of 15 May.
The al-Khisas massacre took place in al-Khisas in Mandatory Palestine on December 18, 1947, near the Syrian border and was carried out by Haganah militiamen, possibly from Palmach. Twelve Arab residents of Al-Khisas were killed, four of them children.
Fawzi al-Qawuqji was a leading Lebanese-born Arab nationalist military figure in the interwar period. The British military were impressed by his military acumen when he served briefly in Palestine in 1936 fighting the British Mandatory suppression of the Palestinian Revolt. A political decision by the British enabled him to flee the country in 1937. He was based in Nazi Germany during World War II, and served as the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) field commander during the 1948 Palestine War.
The Jewish Settlement Police (JSP) (Hebrew: משטרת היישובים העבריים, romanized: Mishteret Ha-Yishuvim Ha-Ivri'yim) were a division of the Notrim established in Mandatory Palestine in 1936, during the 1936-39 Arab revolt.
The Palestinian Arab Party was a political party in Palestine established by the influential Husayni family in May 1935. Jamal al-Husayni was the founder and chairman. Emil Ghuri was elected general secretary until the end of the British Mandate in 1947. Other leaders of the party included Saed al-dean Al-Aref, Rafiq al-Tamimi, Tawfiq al-Husayni, Anwar al-Khatib, Kamil al-Dajani, and Yusuf Sahyun.
The Independence Party of Palestine was an Arab nationalist political party established on 13 August 1932 in Palestine during the British Mandate. The party was founded by Muhammad Izzat Darwaza, and the other founders of the party were Fahmi al-Abboushi, Mu'in al-Madi, Akram Zu'aytir, ‘Ajaj Nuwayhid, Rashid al-Hajj Ibrahim, Subhi al-Khadra, and Salim Salamah. The party did not achieve a large membership but Awni Abd al-Hadi, through his role as private secretary to Amir Feisal in Damascus between 1918-1920, had good relations with many senior leaders across the Arab World.
The Youth Congress Party was a Palestinian political party that was established by Yaqub al-Ghusayn. It was formed in 1932 in the British Mandate of Palestine and quickly grew to become the largest nationalist association of the early 1930s, counting several thousand members by mid-1934 in branches across the country. The party rejected British rule and was generally pro-Husayni.
Yaqub al-Ghusayn (1899–1948) was a Palestinian landowner from Ramla and the founder of the Youth Congress Party.
Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari was a Nazareth-born Palestinian who studied law in Jerusalem, graduating in 1939. Al-Hawari served in the British Mandate administration as chief interpreter in the district court of Jaffa and chairman of the Association of Government second-division officers. He was transferred to Haifa where he resigned his government position in 1942. On his resignation, he returned to practicing law in Jaffa. Al-Hawari started his career as a devoted follower of Amin al-Husseini but broke with the influential Husseini family in the early 1940s. Muhammad Nimr Al-Hawari, during the termination of the British mandate, formed and commanded al-Najjada, a paramilitary armed movement. Al-Hawari was in command of the militia in the defence of Jaffa until he fled in the mass exodus of Palestinians in late December 1947. Al-Hawari fled from Jaffa to Ramallah in December 1947. Al-Hawari together with ‘Aziz Shihada a lawyer from Ramallah opened an office in the West Bank for refugee affairs. Hawari returned to Palestine and years later became judge in the District Court of Nazareth.
al-Najjada was a Palestinian Arab paramilitary scout movement formed in Jaffa, British Mandate of Palestine on 8 December 1945. The organisation was headed by Muhammad Nimr al-Hawari as General Commander and Rashad al-Dabbagh as Secretary General. The al-Najjada HQ was on Railway Station Street Jaffa. Its officers were mainly Arabs who had served in the British Army. During the lead into the 1948 war its membership numbered 2,000 to 3,000 but the organisation lacked arms. The Palestinian Arab revolt of 1936–1939 led to an imbalance of power between the Jewish community and the Arab community, as the latter had been substantially disarmed. The British had estimated al-Najjada strength as 8,000 by mid-1946.
Muhammad Rafiq al-Tamimi was a Palestinian Arab educator and political figure in the 20th century. He was appointed to the Arab Higher Committee in 1945 and was the chairman of the Palestinian Arab paramilitary scout movement, al-Najjada (1945–47).
Sa'id al-Khadra (1895-1954) was a Palestinian Arab politician, lawyer, and newspaper columnist. As an Istiqlal leader, he helped organize anti-British and anti-Zionist activities in Palestine, including the 1936–39 Arab revolt, which resulted in his three-year imprisonment.
The All-Palestine Government was established on 22 September 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, to govern the Egyptian-controlled territory in Gaza, which Egypt had on the same day declared as the All-Palestine Protectorate. It was confirmed by the Arab League and recognised by six of the then seven Arab League members, with Transjordan being the exception. Though it claimed jurisdiction over the whole of the former Mandatory Palestine, its effective jurisdiction was limited to the All-Palestine Protectorate, which came to be called the Gaza Strip. The President of the protectorate was Hajj Amin al-Husseini, former chairman of the Arab Higher Committee, and the Prime Minister was Ahmed Hilmi Pasha. The legislative body was the All-Palestine National Council.
The Arab Higher Committee or the Higher National Committee was the central political organ of Palestinian Arabs in Mandatory Palestine. It was established on 25 April 1936, on the initiative of Haj Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and comprised the leaders of Palestinian Arab clans and political parties under the mufti's chairmanship. The committee was outlawed by the British Mandatory administration in September 1937 after the assassination of a British official.
Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, also spelled Abdul Qadir al-Husseini, was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and fighter who in late 1933 founded the secret militant group known as the Organization for Holy Struggle, which he and Hasan Salama commanded as the Army of the Holy War during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt and during the 1948 war.
Hasan Salama was a Palestinian Arab nationalist guerilla leader and commander who led the Palestinian Holy War Army in the 1948 Palestine War along with Abdul Qadir al-Husseini.
The Arab Liberation Army, also translated as Arab Salvation Army or Arab Rescue Army (ARA), was an army of volunteers from Arab countries led by Fawzi al-Qawuqji. It fought on the Arab side in the 1948 Palestine war and was set up by the Arab League as a counter to the Arab High Committee's Holy War Army, but in fact, the League and Arab governments prevented thousands from joining either force.
The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It was the first war of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. During the war, the British withdrew from the territory and the State of Israel was established, leading to it being known in Israel as the War of Independence.
Muhammad al-Ashmar was a Syrian rebel commander during the Great Syrian Revolt and the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, and a prominent communist figure in post-independence Syria.
Society for the Defense of Palestine was a nationalist Arab militia, active during the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine. The group was composed of Sunni Arab volunteers, mainly coming from Iraq and commanded by Iraqi Fawzi al-Qawuqji.
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