The Arab Project: Between Reality and Imagination
Talk of the Arab project has been abundant lately, with debates over whether it is feasible or merely a fantasy. This discourse was reignited by the war in Gaza, the first and second Iran wars, and most recently by the appointment of Nabil Fahmy, a figure known for his and his family’s Arabist leanings, as Secretary-General of the Arab League, succeeding Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
This appointment has once again sparked discussion about the framework sought by proponents of Arab nationalist projects. The presence of a Secretary-General who is a former foreign minister, ambassador, and seasoned diplomat—the son of the late Ismail Fahmy, former Egyptian Foreign Minister known for his anti-Zionist stance and his famous rejection of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s visit to Jerusalem—has been seen as a breath of fresh air and a source of comfort for those championing such projects.
In my view, this change in the Arab League’s Secretariat-General has opened the door to reviving the conversation about the Arab project, urging it to receive the necessary care from the official gathering of Arab states. Nabil Fahmy may carry this vision to leaders, transforming it from mere smoke into a tangible reality on the ground—a feasible project rather than an illusion.
Even if the Arab project is viewed as pure fantasy by some disillusioned politicians in our region, it remains our only salvation from the state of weakness, frailty, and absence of Arab will that has allowed three regional projects—and those of global powers seeking dominance over the region’s resources—to gain ground. These include the Iranian project, the Turkish project, and the Israeli project, alongside the new Trump project, which stirs up crises, demands compensation, and threatens what is most precious.
The current regional and international reality demands Arab solidarity, regional cooperation, and unity in position and decision-making to protect our national security, shared destiny, and the dangers looming upon us from all sides.
We are well aware of the problems surrounding water resources and the management of “straits.” The Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb, and the Strait of Gibraltar all pass through or near Arab states: Bab el-Mandeb is flanked by Arab nations, Gibraltar lies between Spain and Morocco, and Hormuz is shared between the Sultanate of Oman and Iran. This situation has placed both the straits and water resources at risk. This is particularly true for the Nile, which flows through nine African countries, including two Arab states that suffer from the dominance of upstream countries like Ethiopia over water resources, as evidenced by the catastrophic impacts of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the lifeline of Egypt and Sudan. Similarly, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, originating in Turkey and flowing through Syria and Iraq, face declining water levels and increased waste due to dams built by Turkey upstream, without respect for international agreements, UN charters, or bilateral treaties.
Here, the Arab project must rise from its slumber, even if it has encountered setbacks or failed historical experiences. This project should not necessarily aim for full political unity but should instead focus on cooperation, integration, and unity of purpose and position, rather than the dissolution of national identities into a single entity. It must preserve the distinctiveness of our countries, which we cherish and fear might be lost in an absorptive unity with anyone, even a close or distant Arab brother.
The Arab project we advocate is a non-absorptive one, seeking the art of the possible. It can be formulated precisely to safeguard the rights of member states, protect their uniqueness, and affirm that their national interests—tied to political, economic, and social systems with an existential history that cannot be ignored or dismissed—are inviolable.
An Arab project that fully addresses these concerns, particularly the fear that cooperation should never reach the point of integration that could cause smaller “important” states to disappear into larger “great power” entities, thereby losing control over their territory in favor of regional unity, is essential.
Our destiny is that of a sprawling nation, from the “Restless Gulf” to the “Roaring Ocean,” traversing multiple seas, gulfs, terrains, rivers, and mountains. It is a nation of diverse ethnicities with their own histories, united under the overarching Arab nationality, rooted in distant history yet reflecting its current hesitations.
The Arab project must preserve national constants without negating the interests of the nation. It is a large homeland that embraces smaller homelands, safeguarding their existence, defending them against the ambitions of other regional projects by “ill-neighbor” ethnicities, and protecting them from others who have arrived with fleets to threaten and intimidate. God is the Deliverer.
