Arab Union

The Arab Union is a theoretical political union of the Arab states. The term was first used when the British Empire promised the Arabs a united independent state in return for revolting against the Ottoman Empire, with whom Britain was at war. It never came to fruition following the Sykes–Picot Agreement. Despite this, many in the Arab world have since called for the creation of a pan-Arab state. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser made several unsuccessful attempts to unite Egypt with other Arab countries (including Iraq and North Yemen), and briefly succeeded in forming the United Arab Republic with Syria in 1958, which dissolved in 1971. Similar attempts were made by other Arab leaders, such as Hafez al-Assad, Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, Faisal I of Iraq, Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Gaafar Nimeiry and Anwar Sadat.

Proposals
In the 2004 Arab League summit in Cairo, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh proposed the creation of an Arab Union replacing the Arab League for a stronger political and geographical body, capable of dealing with world issues. However, the proposal failed to reach the League's agenda.

During the Arab Spring in 2011, Saudi Arabia raised a proposal to transform the Gulf Cooperation Council into a "Gulf Union" with tighter economic, political and military coordination, regarded as a move to counterbalance the Iranian influence in the region. Objections were raised against the proposal by other countries. In 2014, Bahrain prime minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa said that current events in the region highlighted the importance of the proposal.

Failed unifications

 * Fertile Crescent Plan
 * United Arab Republic
 * Arab Federation
 * United Arab States
 * Unified Political Command
 * Union of Arab Republics (1972)
 * Federation of Arab Republics
 * Arab Islamic Republic
 * King Hussein's federation plan

Successful unifications

 * Unification of Saudi Arabia
 * United Arab Emirates
 * Yemeni unification