The movement toward Arab unity, associated with the name of Gamel Abdel Nasser, who was president of Egypt from 1956 to 1970. Nasser made Egypt into the dominant Arab power and in 1958 he spearheaded a union between Egypt and Syria, hoping eventually to unite all the Arab nations under his leadership. But Iraq resisted and Syria withdrew from the union in 1961. Although the Arab world is still divided, for decades the Arab nations have been trying to achieve the political unity among themselves envisioned by Nasser. In spite of the many differences between the nineteen Arab nations, the Arabs feel themselves to be united by a common language, Arabic, and by their Islamic culture, which permeates all aspects of daily life.