Nasser’s pan-Arabism was attacked as both Egyptian imperialism and national self-squandering

Evidence

The role of Egypt has been of particular importance in this process. Egypt was a late comer to pan-Arabism and for some time showed interest in it only as a possible adjunct to her own foreign policy. That policy had done Egypt little good. It involved her in a disastrous war in the Yemen, in an ill-starred union with Syria which ended amid hostility and recrimination, and above all in defeat at the hands of the Israelis. As a result Egyptian pan-Arabism has been attacked from both sides. On the one hand, there have been many Arabs who have seen Egyptian policy as an attempt to exploit pan-Arab sentiments and aspirations for Egyptian imperial purposes; on the other, there have been many Egyptians who have seen in that policy a subordination of Egyptian national interests to pan-Arab fantasies, and the squandering of Egyptian blood and trea­ sure in a cause not their own. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 926