Fertile Crescent Plan
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Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...
Plan was an Iraqi Hashemite
Hashemite
Hashemite is the Latinate version of the , transliteration: Hāšimī, and traditionally refers to those belonging to the Banu Hashim, or "clan of Hashim", a clan within the larger Quraish tribe...
proposal for the union of Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
with Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Palestine, and Transjordan
Transjordan
The Emirate of Transjordan was a former Ottoman territory in the Southern Levant that was part of the British Mandate of Palestine...
. Nuri as-Said
Nuri as-Said
Nuri Pasha al-Said was an Iraqi politician during the British Mandate and during the Kingdom of Iraq. He served in various key cabinet positions, and served seven terms as Prime Minister of Iraq....
, prime minister of Iraq, presented the plan to British officials during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when it appeared that France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
had become too weak to hold on to Syria. This Arab unity scheme faced opposition from those Syrians who did not wish to live under a monarchy or enter a pro-British alliance. In addition, the second People's Party
People's Party (Syria)
People's Party was a Syrian political party that was active during the 1950s and the early 1960s. The party was established in 1948 as the main opposition party to the National Party...
, representing northern Syrian commercial and landholding interests, favored the Fertile Crescent Plan and initiated diplomatic steps to implement it. On the other hand, the National Party
National Party (Syria)
The National Party was group that led the struggle against the Ottomans in Syria after the leadership of the revolution against the French mandate in 1926 make up the National Front The National Party was group that led the struggle against the Ottomans in Syria after the leadership of the...
and factions in the army were determined to block any plans for unity with Iraq as long as it had a military treaty with Great Britain. The closest the plan came to fruition was during the regime (August-December 1949) of Colonel Sami al-Hinnawi
Sami al-Hinnawi
Colonel Sami Hilmy al-Hinnawi was a Syrian politician and military man. He was born in Aleppo and had sereved in the Ottoman army before serving in the French-Syrian army during the French Mandate of Syria....
, who had installed a People's Party government that entered negotiations to achieve unity. The opportunity was aborted by Colonel Adib Shishakli
Adib Shishakli
Adib ibn Hasan Shishakli was a Syrian military leader and President of Syria .Born into a notable Syrian-Kurdish family of Hama, Shishakli served with the French Army during the mandate era...
's coup d'état. Any faint hope remaining for the Fertile Crescent Plan was squelched with the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy in July 1958.
Aspirations to unite the Fertile Crescent states continue to exist.
See also
- Fertile CrescentFertile CrescentThe Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...
- Greater SyriaGreater SyriaGreater Syria , also known simply as Syria, is a term that denotes a region in the Near East bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea or the Levant....
- Syrian Social Nationalist PartySyrian Social Nationalist PartyThe Syrian Social Nationalist Party , is a secular nationalist political party in Lebanon and Syria. It advocates the establishment of a Syrian nation state spanning the Fertile Crescent, including present day Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Israel, Cyprus, Kuwait,...
- Damascus ProtocolDamascus ProtocolThe Damascus Protocol was a document given to Faisal bin Hussein by the Arab secret societies al-Fatat and Al-'Ahd on his second visit to Damascus during a mission to consult Turkish officials in Constantinople...
- Sykes–Picot Agreement