Britain sponsored its own pan-Arabism to defuse Arab nationalism

Evidence

The British government however judged it advisable to promote its own brand of pan-Arabism, fearing a collision with Arab nationalism during the war. This had led the British government on the one hand to adopt policies restricting the growth of the Jewish settlement in Palestine, even at the cost of refusing to admit refugees from Hitler-occupied Europe, on the other to a conflict with French interests in Syria and Lebanon. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 891

Categorization

• SEED: Pan-Arabism as a manufactured, externally-instrumentalized category rather than an organic movement strengthens a skeptical essay on the West’s role in assembling ‘Arab’ identity.