| Arab League summit | |
|---|---|
 Arab heads of state in a meeting during the summit | |
| Host country | Egypt |
| Dates | 13 January 1964 (1964-01-13) – 16 January 1964 (1964-01-16) |
| Cities | Cairo |
| Part of a series on the | ||||||||
| Arab world | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||
Political Issues
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ||||||||
The1964 Arab League summit was the firstsummit of theArab League, held inCairo,Egypt, on 13–16 January 1964 and attended by all thirteen of the then member states:[1]United Arab Republic (Egypt),Iraq,Lebanon,Syria,Saudi Arabia,Jordan,Yemen Arab Republic,Libya,Sudan,Morocco,Tunisia,Kuwait andAlgeria. At the summit, held on the initiative of theUnited Arab Republic (modern-day Egypt only, following the 1961 secession ofSyria from the union), it was decided to carry out planning to resolve inter-Arab conflicts and to adopt common principles regarding opposition toimperialism and, in the words of the summit participants, to what they described as the “aggressive policies” ofIsrael.[2] The key resolutions from the summit were expanded and recorded in a letter to the United Nations eight months later at the1964 Arab League summit (Alexandria).
At the time,Syria andPalestinian fedayeen called for a rematch of the1948 Arab-Israeli War, but other Arab states (most notablyEgypt underGamal Abdel Nasser) felt it was not the right moment to strike. Instead, they agreed on the non-military belligerent tactic of diverting water from theJordan River so that Israel could not use it.[3] This diversion was called the1964 Headwater Diversion Plan. It went against the original agreed proposals of the River Jordan by both Israel and the Arabs in the 1955 Unified Johnston Plan, also known as theJordan Valley Unified Water Plan. This was one of the factors that later precipitated theSix-Day War in 1967.
The immediate catalyst for the summit was Israel's proposeddiversion of water fromLake Tiberias.[4] In reaction to Syria's repeated charges of Egyptian reluctance for military confrontation with Israel,Egyptian presidentGamal Abdel Nasser (1918–1970) championed an Arab plan to divert two sources of theRiver Jordan, theHasbani River and theBanias.[4] Nasser blamed Arab divisions for what he deemed "the disastrous situation".[5] This had been the chosen option out of two proposals of the1964 Headwater Diversion Plan. On 23 December 1963, he said:
In order to confront Israel, which challenged us last week whenits chief-of-staff stood up and said "we shall divert the water against the will of the Arabs and the Arabs can do what they want", a meeting between ArabKings andHeads of State must take place as soon as possible, regardless of the conflicts and differences between them. Those with whom we are in conflict, we are prepared to meet; those with whom we have a quarrel, we are ready, for the sake of Palestine, to sit with.[6]
The participants in the meeting were recorded in a letter to the United Nations as follows:
Jordan: KingHussein of Jordan
Tunisia: de facto Prime MinisterBahi Ladgham
Algeria: PresidentAhmed Ben Bella
Sudan: PresidentIbrahim Abboud
Iraq: PresidentAbdul Salam Arif
Saudi Arabia: PrinceFaisal of Saudi Arabia (later King)
Syria: PresidentAmin al-Hafiz
Egypt: PresidentGamal Abdel Nasser (technically President of theUnited Arab Republic)
Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) PresidentAbdullah as-Sallal
Kuwait: PrinceAbdullah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah
Lebanon: PresidentCharles Helou
Libya: KingIdris of Libya
Morocco:Prince Moulay Abdallah of Morocco
Palestine:Ahmad ShukeiriA number of key Arab states had not yet achieved independence fromBritain in 1964, and therefore their leaders did not participate in the conference:
Bahrain: EmirIsa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Oman: SultanSaid bin Taimur ofMuscat and Oman
Qatar: EmirAhmad bin Ali Al Thani
United Arab Emirates: Emirs of theTrucial States
South Yemen: Sultans of theFederation of South Arabia and theProtectorate of South ArabiaOn Palestine,Ahmad al-Shuqayri (1908–1988), aPalestiniandiplomat and a former assistantsecretary-general of the Arab League (1950–1956), was given a mandate to initiate contacts aimed at establishing a Palestinian entity,[7][8] in which role he would eventually become first chairman of thePalestine Liberation Organization.
On the military front, Cairo Radio announced that the leaders of the Arab League member states agreed to set up a unified military command,[9] theUnited Arab Command, to be headed by an Egyptianlieutenant general, Ali Ali Amer, and with headquarters in Cairo.[9] No mention of this new body was made in the officialcommuniqué from the summit, although the secretary-general himself,Abdel Khalek Hassouna, had stated that certain adopted resolutions would remain secret.[9]
On the water diversion plan, all thirteen member states unanimously resolved to approve Nasser's proposal.[10] The effect of the summit and the decisions taken there was to emasculate theCouncil of the Arab League and supersede it as the foremost decision-making body.[11] Nasser discouraged Syria and Palestinian guerrillas from provoking the Israelis, conceding that he had no plans for war with Israel.[5]
During the summit, Nasser developed cordial relations with King Hussein, and ties were mended with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Morocco.[12] The summit was to be the first of many: in late 1964, a second summit (1964 Arab League summit (Alexandria)) would be held inAlexandria, also in Egypt. Following this second summit, a letter was sent to the United Nations setting out the agreed resolutions.
In Louis-Joseph Lebret (IRFED) diary, who was working for the development of Lebanon, it was noted: The Arab summit of 1964 has just ended. Syria stood alone to defend its point of view of military intervention. Either Nasser is afraid of failure, or he does not want to displease the USA... Lebanon, with its political wisdom, allowed it not to engage. For all except Syria, it was a wise decision. But Israel will not be attacked. Nasser, with his masking smile, tenderly embraced Karamé who was rather embarrassed.
| Pre-1964 | |
|---|---|
| 1964–1979 | |
| 1980–1999 |
|
| 2000–2019 |
|
| 2020–2039 | |
Italics indicate extraordinary meetings. | |
