The concept of positive neutrality served Lebanon well, at least in the 1950s and 1960s. On March 25, 1959 and in the midst of heightened Arab nationalism - while half of Lebanon's population yearned for a cementing of Arab ties and even union with Egypt and Syria's United Arab Republic - the president, Fouad Chehab, refused Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser's entry into Lebanon, and instead met him at the border with Syria, thus reinforcing the concept of positive neutrality that the Lebanese wanted to extend as a concept and method to other Arab countries in order to meet the threats of colonialism and western influence. Very rare, no copies located on Worldcat.