Britain’s 1941 backing helped legitimize Arab unity as a political project.

Evidence

Anthony Eden’s statement delivered at the Mansion House on 29th May 1941 is worth quoting at length. “The Arab world has made great strides since the settlement reached at the end of the last War, and many Arab thinkers desire for the Arab peoples a greater degree of unity than they now enjoy. In reaching out towards this unity they hope for our support. No such appeal from our friends should go unanswered. It seems to me both natural and right that the cultural and economic ties between the Arab countries, and the political ties too, should be strengthened. His Majesty’s Government for their part will give their full support to any scheme that commands general approval.” (The Times, 30 May 1941) Other expressions of support followed, notably, a statement by Eden in the House of Commons on 26th February 1943. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 900

Categorization

• XREF: Fits the mechanism interest: an external imperial power publicly framing ‘Arab unity’ as a natural, support-worthy aspiration — knowledge-production of Arabness by non-Arab actors.