Driven by his dream to unite the Arabs into a single nation, Nasser convinced Syria, in 1958, to join Egypt in the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR). However, this success was short-lived: three years later, Syria, annoyed by what it saw as Egypt’s domination in the UAR, withdrew from the United Arab Republic. Nonetheless, Nasser continued to be a key player in Arab affairs, and, in 1964, he hosted two Arab summits; at one of the summits, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was born. Based in Egypt, the PLO was to become a key player in Palestinian Arab affairs. Even in the Organization’s infancy, Yasser Arafat, a Palestinian nationalist and the PLO’s future leader, was already the leader of a small PLO faction called FATAH ("Opening" in Arabic, as in 'creating an OPENING back to Palestine').

ã 2000 StateofIsrael.com. All rights reserved.