Appendix 9: The Declaration of Union

At a historic session held at the Qubba Palace in Cairo on 12 Rajab 1377, corresponding to the first of February 1958, His Excellency President Shukri al-Quwatli, President of the Syrian Republic, and His Excellency President Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of the Republic of Egypt, met with the representatives of the two Republics of Syria and Egypt, Messrs.: Sabri al-Asali, Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, Khalid al-Azm, Zakaria Mohieddin, Hamid al-Khuja, Hussein el-Shafei, Ma'mun al-Kuzbari, Kamal el-Din Hussein, Khalil al-Kallas, Nour al-Din Tarraf, Salih Aqil, Fathi Radwan, Afif al-Bizri, Mahmoud Fawzi, Kamal Ramzi Stino, Ali Sabri, Abd al-Rahman al-Azm and Mahmoud Riad.

The purpose of this meeting was to deliberate on the final measures for realizing the will of the Arab people and carrying out what the constitutions of the two Republics provide, that the people of each of them is part of the Arab nation. They therefore considered the unanimous approval given by both the Egyptian National Assembly and the Syrian Chamber of Deputies to the establishment of union between the two countries, as a first step toward achieving comprehensive Arab unity. They also considered the conclusive evidence that has followed in recent years that Arab nationalism has been the spirit of a long history that the Arabs shared in their various countries, a present common to them, and a future hoped for by every one of them.

They concluded that this union, which is the fruit of Arab nationalism, is the Arabs' road to freedom and sovereignty and humanity's path to cooperation and peace, and that it is therefore their duty to carry this union beyond hopes and into execution, with firm resolve and strong determination. From all of this, those present concluded that the elements for establishing union between the Syrian and Egyptian Republics, and the conditions for its success, had come together, after a common struggle in recent times had bound them together, made the meaning of nationalism clearer and confirmed that it is a movement of liberation and construction and a creed of cooperation and peace.

Those present therefore decided to declare their complete agreement, their full faith and their deep confidence in the necessity of uniting Syria and Egypt in a single state named the United Arab Republic.

They also decided to declare their unanimous agreement that the system of government in the United Arab Republic shall be democratic and presidential, with executive authority held by the head of state, assisted by ministers whom the head of state appoints and who are answerable to him.

Legislative authority in this Republic shall be held by a single legislative council, and it shall have a single flag, shading a single people and a single army, in a union in which its sons are equal in rights and duties and are all called to protect it with their souls, their hearts' blood and their lives, and vie with one another to establish its glory and confirm its strength. His Excellency President Shukri al-Quwatli and His Excellency President Gamal Abdel Nasser will each present to the people a statement, to be delivered before the Syrian Chamber of Deputies and the Egyptian National Assembly on Wednesday 16 Rajab 1377, corresponding to 5 February 1958, in which they will set out the conclusions of this meeting and explain the foundations of union on which the young state of the Arabs rests.

The people in Syria and Egypt will also be called, within thirty days, to a referendum on the foundations of the union and on the person of the head of state.

In declaring these decisions, those present feel the deepest happiness and the finest kinds of pride, for they have taken part in the positive step on the road to the unity and solidarity of the Arabs, a unity that has lived in the hearts of the Arabs as a treasured hope and a great goal, era after era and generation after generation. We ask God to crown this step, and the steps that follow it, with His watchful care and His abundant grace, and to grant the Arabs dignity and peace in the shelter of union.

Cairo, 12 Rajab 1377, corresponding to the first of February 1958