CAIRO -

The Syrian officers formed a semi-circle around the leader in whom they found what they wanted. They were in a hurry to achieve unity between Cairo and Damascus, but the desired man, whose speeches were filled with claims of Arab nationalism, was not enthusiastic about their demand, and said clearly, "I must tell you that everything I heard from you It does not justify the establishment of unity, for what you all mentioned does not go beyond being negative reasons, and these negative reasons will be a burden on unity more than they will be a driving force for it.”

The late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser explained to the Syrian officers who came on a surprise visit to Cairo and met with them on the evening of January 15, 1958, his point of view, warning against the consequences of rushing unity without a clear vision of it.

But the Egyptian leader relied on the desire of the Syrian military in the end, setting conditions for that unity, and on February 22, 1958, he announced the establishment of the United Arab Republic, which consisted of two regions, northern Syria and southern Egypt.

The masses of the two countries celebrated the Unity Charter without their knowledge of the discussions that took place inside the closed rooms, bearing hopes and fears. No one even expected that the leader himself was not enthusiastic about declaring the united republic in that way.

before unit

In his book, "The Years of Boiling", the Egyptian writer Muhammad Hassanein Heikal stated that the Syrian Military Council held a meeting in Damascus on the evening of January 11, 1958, and decided that a delegation representing it would travel to Cairo to demand Nasser's immediate unity between the two countries.

The Syrian delegation included 14 officers, representing the Syrian Military Council, which was formed in August 1957 from 24 members representing all the military blocs, and a number of leaders who do not belong to those blocs.

Heikal explained that this council considered itself as an entity that protects Syria's independence and prevents it from joining foreign alliances, despite the presence of a president, a prime minister, and a parliament, which created a dual power.

The Syrian delegation met with Abdel Nasser at eight in the evening on January 15, 1958, and the officers presented the Egyptian president with a memorandum signed by members of the Military Council requesting immediate unity.

The journalist writer, quoting from the minutes of the meeting, mentioned that the members of the Syrian delegation sat in a semi-circle around Abdel Nasser, with them, the Egyptian army commander Abdel Hakim Amer, so that the late leader began his speech, “The issue is more dangerous than any papers or memos, and I heard from Abdel Hakim a summary of what this note contains, and I will not Read it in front of you now, otherwise we would jump to the conclusions without investigating its premises and causes.

Nasser expressed his rejection of the declaration of unity, saying, "I sent you my view on the issue of unity, and that we were not ready for it 5 years ago, and I do not know what has emerged during the last two weeks, which calls you now to demand immediate unity."

In the face of the Egyptian refusal, members of the Syrian delegation spoke about the heated situation in their country, where the state of permanent alertness in the barracks because each group is suspicious of the other, as well as the division between the parties whose political tendencies have been distributed to the point of verging on sedition, in addition to the strong activity of the communists at the same time. The military build-up on the Turkish and Iraqi borders, driven by American instigations.

However, all the reasons given by the Syrians, from Nasser’s point of view, were negative motives that would harm the unity more than they would be a driving force for it. Without a serious desire from him to implement it on the ground, according to what was included in the minutes of the meeting, which Heikal cited.

During the persuasion sessions on the part of the Syrians, they were able to obtain approval from the Syrian president, Shukri al-Quwatli, for the unit, and Nasser on his part then agreed.

The unity pact between Egypt and Syria was signed after a popular referendum, and Abdel Nasser was elected president of the United Arab Republic, with Cairo being the capital.

The new state had a constitution, a central government, and two regional executive councils, one Egyptian and the other Syrian. The parliaments of the two countries were unified, as well as the establishment of a unified military command based in Damascus.

Did the leader want unity?

I feel now, while I am among you, the happiest moment of my life. I have always looked at Damascus, you, and Syria, and I am looking forward to the day when I will meet you. Today, I visit Syria, the beating heart of Arabism, Syria that (which) always carried the banner of Arab nationalism, Syria that (which) was always calling With Arab nationalism, and today, fellow citizens, God has fulfilled this hope and this anticipation, and I meet with you on this immortal day, after the United Arab Republic has been achieved.”

As usual, Abdel Nasser gave an enthusiastic speech during his visit to Damascus on the occasion of the union between his country and Syria, in which he confirmed his happiness with the unity charter, but was the leader really happy?

In clear words, a day after the collapse of unity between the two countries, and in a public speech, Nasser said that he rejected the idea of ​​unity in a meeting with a Syrian delegation on January 15, 1958, because it would represent a target for all enemies of Arab unity, and that he asked to wait 5 years with the start of forms Partial unity between the two countries, such as the military, economic and cultural unity, eventually reaching the full constitutional unity.

In her reading of scenes of unity and then separation, published by Al-Ahram newspaper, the daughter of the late leader Hoda Abdel Nasser said that her father was surprised on January 14, 1958, by the arrival of a Syrian plane at Cairo Airport with Syrian officers on board.

Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer met the officers who informed him that Syria was in danger and facing a catastrophe, and there were fears that the Communists would overturn the rule in Damascus, and saw that the solution was to complete the union with Egypt.

Hoda went on to convey what her father said during his meeting with the Egyptian Council of Ministers, on October 19, 1961, following the announcement of the separation, stressing that he had informed the officers in a subsequent meeting of their meeting with Amer, his rejection of the unit so quickly because it should not be based on emotional grounds.

The Egyptian leader saw that arrangements for unity between the two countries would take about five years, according to the daughter, "but they insisted and told him that Syria would be lost, so does Syria not interest you?"

Almost the same vision is conveyed by the late President, Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat, in his autobiographical book “Search for the Self”, where he confirmed that he traveled to Damascus in November 1957, and found political matters escalating there at an amazing speed as a result of the rupture of the army into teams that differed among themselves on The presence of Shukri al-Quwatli at the head of the Syrian authority.

Al-Sadat added that a coup in Syria was imminent, so a number of officers rushed to Cairo to convince Nasser of immediate unity, adding, "Nasser tried very hard to dissuade them from their resolve, as unity cannot take place suddenly and without preparation ... especially since the two countries are different in many aspects. ...but in vain he tried one night after another until the third night, and he did not find, in front of their insistence, an alternative to agreeing to unity."

The frequency of the leader

In an article titled "February 22 in the Historical Memory of Syrians: A Call from the Past to the Future", the Syrian researcher Shams Al-Din Al-Kilani spoke about the atmosphere before the declaration of unity.

He said that there was a series of episodes of rapprochement between Egypt and Syria, which began in 1955 with the signing of the mutual defense agreement between them, then the Syrian government set its program, in June 1956, to establish a union between the two countries, but consideration of the unity project was postponed due to the tripartite aggression against Egypt. In 1956, it was completed in September 1957 when the governments of the two countries signed the Economic Unity Agreement.

He added that in light of the overwhelming national tide at the time, and the emergence of the Egyptian president's personality as a national leader, Syrian political, party and military leaders demanded the union of Damascus and Cairo into one state under the leadership of Nasser.

The article stated that the Egyptian leader was reluctant to complete the unit, due to the conflict between the political reality in Syria and the type of government that he began to build in Egypt, which is based on political and administrative centralization and the holding of a vanguard elite to manage power politically and economically.

In front of centralization in Egypt, the Syrian army was being challenged by the blocs competing for power in addition to the permanent conflict between the parties. Therefore, according to Al-Kilani, Abdel Nasser stipulated to accept unity that the forms of political life in the Syrian and Egyptian regions should be identical, by adopting the formula of the National Union instead of Parliament, as a framework for political participation After the dissolution of all parties, which was accepted by the Syrian side.

end of unit

The union between Cairo and Damascus lasted about 3 years, when the separation was announced on September 28, 1961, and there are many reasons put forward by the Egyptian and Syrian sides in this regard.

There are analyzes and testimonies that point to external plots hatched, especially by Israel, to undermine the nascent unity, and others believe that the birth from the beginning was premature, and then came the fragmentation of the united republic from within, due to the absence of preliminary conditions and the comprehensive vision that establishes its continuity.

On the other hand, there are voices that cast the whole error on the Nasserist policies that Syrians saw as turning their country into a mere region under Egyptian sovereignty, as well as economic decisions that negatively affected the Syrian bourgeoisie, such as the nationalization decision and the agrarian reform law.

With all the reasons that led to the dissolution of the unit following a military coup carried out by Syrian officers, it seems reasonable to say that Abdel Nasser rejected the new republic before announcing its establishment.

As usual, Abdel Nasser went out to the masses to speak enthusiastically after the decision to separate. In his speech, he confirmed that he had sent military teams from the navy and paratroopers the previous day to confront the separatists;

The crowd cheered and applauded the leader, and when he completed his speech, saying that he had informed the military teams to return via the radio, because he did not accept that an Arab shed Arab blood;

The crowd cheered and applauded too!