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 which the United Kingdom was at war.
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.
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.
You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.This Middle East location article is a stub.