Pan-Arabism Before Nasser

Doran's tightly argued manuscript profoundly alters the accepted version of post-World War II Pan-Arabic foreign policy. He convincingly demonstrates the absence of any true pan-Arabic front from the very beginning of the Arab League. Recreating the policy decisions of Egypt during the critical years from 1944 to 1948, Doran proves that Egyptian national interests were always placed before the united Arab front against Israel. Even while participating in the 1948 war with Israel, Zionism and the Palestine Question were of lesser importance to Egypt than achieving independence from Britain and thwarting the expansionist aims of Iraq and Jordan. Ultimately, Doran's work is a rethinking of twentieth-century Middle Eastern politics and Arabic relations, with important implications for study of the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, and the fiery politics of the Middle East.