Page "Pan-Arabism" Paragraph 6

The pan-Arab ideology has been accused of racism, inciting prejudice against and downplaying the role of non-Arab peoples, such as the Berbers, Turks, Jews, Persians, Maronites and others.

Although pan-Arabism began at the time of World War I, Egypt, the most populous and arguably most important Arabic-speaking country, was not interested in pan-Arabism prior to the 1950s.

Thus, in the 1930s and 1940s, Egyptian nationalism – and not pan-Arabism – was the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian political activists.

According to James Jankowski, " What is most significant Egypt in this period is the absence of an Arab component in early Egyptian nationalism.

The thrust of Egyptian political, economic, and cultural development throughout the nineteenth century worked against, rather than for, an ' Arab ' orientation ....

This situation – that of divergent political trajectories for Egyptians and Arabs – if anything increased after 1900.