Source: Middle-East Online
Arab identity is not related to Islam, it even predates the spread of Islam and is defined independently of religious identity. There were Arab Christian kingdoms and Arab Jewish tribes documented in history. However, the majority of Arabs today are Muslims, with a small number practising other religions, primarily Christianity and Druze.
Currently, Arabic, a Central Semitic language belonging to the Afroasiatic language family, is the primary characteristic that unites Arabs. The standard and literary form of Arabic used in writing are Modern Standard Arabic.
Although many Europeans and Westerners believe that all Arabs have brown skin and dark hair, the term "Arab" actually has nothing to do with race or genetics. Arabs, on the other hand, are people with a particular shared history, culture, and language. There is no Arab race. Some have red hair and blue eyes, other people have dark skin and many are in the middle.
The majority of the Arabic nations can be found in Western Asia, Western Africa, Northern Africa, and Eastern Africa. The eastern part of the Arab world is known as the Mashriq, and the western part is known as the Maghreb. The region extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Indian Ocean in the southeast. Arabic is the universal language of the Arab world.
With over 13,000,000 square kilometres of land on both Asian and African continents, A portion of North-East Africa, and South-West Asia are covered by the Arab World. The Mashriq is the Arab world's eastern region, while the Maghreb, or Maghrib, consists of Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania.
The Arabian Peninsula is frequently referred to as the "Arab" world, but North Africa is the Arab world's largest and most populous region. Within its eight million square kilometres are two of the largest countries on the African continent: Sudan (1.9 million square kilometres) in the southeast and Algeria (2.4 million square kilometres) in the centre.
About one-and-a-half times the size of Alaska, the largest state in the United States, Algeria is about three-quarters the size of India. Saudi Arabia is the Arab nation with the most territory (2 million square kilometres) in Western Asia.
Lebanon is the smallest autonomous mainland Arab nation (10,452 square kilometres), and Bahrain is the smallest island Arab nation (665 square kilometres).
In the Arab World, various forms of government are represented: There are monarchies in some of these nations: Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and the United Arab Emirates while all of the rest of the Arab nations are republics.
The governments in Arab nations use Standard Arabic as their official language. In the Arab Maghreb, local languages that are used by the general public are referred to as Darija, which means "everyday language", while in the Mashreq, they are referred to as Aammiyya, which means "common language".
The Arab League Organisation
The Arab League is an Arab world organization that spans Western Asia, Western Africa, Eastern Africa, and Northern Africa. On March 22, 1945, the Arab League was established in Cairo with six members at first: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen became a member later on May 5, 1945. The League currently has 22 members, which are Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. But Syria’s membership has been suspended since November 2011.
The main goal of the League is to draw closer the relations between member states and coordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries. The organization has received a relatively low level of cooperation throughout its history.
The Arab League is a political group that aims to help its members integrate economically and resolve conflicts involving member states without seeking assistance from countries other than its members.
Institutions of Arab League
In order to bring the Arabs countries together the Arab league has several institutions to help it reach its objectives.
Council of the Arab League
According to the Charter, the Council will be made up of representatives from Arab League member states who will serve in the roles of necessary heads of state, heads of government, and foreign ministers. Each member will have one vote regardless of the number of representatives.
The Secretary-General of the Council is chosen by a two-thirds vote of the Council's member states, and the Council has seven special committees: Political, Economic, Communications, Cultural, Legal, Social, and Health.
Joint Defence council
The Arab League, like the United Nations, does not have a military force. However, at the 2007 summit, the leaders decided to reactivate their joint defence and establish a peacekeeping force to deploy in South Lebanon, Darfur, Iraq, and other hotspots.
The Joint Defence Council of the Arab League is one of the organization's institutions. It was established under the terms of the Joint Defence and Economic Co-operation Treaty of 1950 to coordinate the joint defence of the Arab League member states. Member states agreed in principle to form a joint military force at a summit in Egypt in 2015.
The Arab League's Economic and Social Council
The ESC was established as the Economic Council under the terms of the Joint Defence and Economic Co-operation Treaty (1950) and held its first meeting in 1953. In 1957, the ESC established the Council of Arab Economic Unity (CAEU) and in 1997, the ESC embraced the Consent to Work with and Foster Exchange Among Arab Nations (1981) in the quest for Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA).
Edited By: Nidhi Jha
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