My book Arab Agreements and Disagreements depicts the important role of Abdel Khalek Hassouna, the late secretary general of the Arab League (AL), in reaching agreements and settling significant disagreements between the organization’s members throughout its history.
The book also explores the background of Abdel Khalek Hassouna’s role as the AL secretary general and the organization’s challenges during his mandate.
Writing this book, I relied on various sources, including the archives of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Arab League, which provided me with valuable published and unpublished documents on the events related to that period.
Since my father had not published his own biography, a series of dialogues I had conducted with him over the years provided valuable material on his role and achievements in his various positions.
The book, published in Arabic by Dar El-Shorouk, describes the interesting and diverse positions my late father held during his life.
He was one of the first Egyptian diplomats to join the Foreign Ministry, which was established in 1922. After that, he served as the governor of Alexandria during the Second World War.
Later, he occupied several positions as the minister of social affairs, minister of education, and minister of foreign affairs before being unanimously elected by all the Arab States as the secretary general of the Arab League for twenty years, from 1952 to 1972.
The book addresses his role in all those positions.
Moreover, it highlights his AL role, which contributed to the independence of the Maghreb and Gulf countries. It also supported the Palestinian right to self-determination and the creation of an independent sovereign state.
A whole chapter in the book describes in detail the crises that broke out between the AL members during that period.
Therefore, it refers to the border crisis between Egypt and Sudan over the Halayeb and Shalatine regions in 1958, the Lebanese crisis’ regional and international implications in 1958, and the crisis between Egypt and Syria over the breaking up of their union in 1961.
It also discusses the 1961 Kuwait crisis, which resulted from Iraq’s threat to its independence, the 1963 border crisis between Morocco and Algeria, the 1972 crisis between northern and southern Yemen, and the 1965 crisis between the Arab states and West Germany over the latter’s substantial assistance to Israel.
In all those instances, my father deployed all efforts toward settling the crises under the league’s umbrella rather than allowing outside means of settlements to escalate them.
I sincerely hope the book will contribute to a better understanding of Egyptian diplomacy’s role and achievements as one of the Third World’s first active diplomacies after World War I and as a co-founder of various international and regional organizations.
In addition, the book highlights the history of the Arab League as the first regional organization established in the post-World War II international order.
Like other organizations, the league has suffered from various problems, including a lack of political will among its members and the diversity of their interests. However, the book reaffirms its importance in light of the Middle East’s current challenges.
Thus, the AL should continue to actively coordinate its members’ political positions, promote their economic integration, preserve their Arab identity, protect their national security, and broadly achieve their common interests.
Certainly, I am grateful that this book on my father’s long career has been well-received and praised by the media, academia, and all those interested in the history of our region.
source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited)
____________
________________
EGYPT / ARAB
