King Faisal I of Iraq espoused the cause of pan-Arabism and sought to create a larger Arab state including Iraq and Syria. The British installed Faisal as king of Iraq in 1921, and until his death in 1933 he attempted to gain a foothold in Syria and to use the mounting Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine as a means of gaining wider Arab support. However, opposition by the French, British and Turks and Faisal’s status as a member of the minority Sunni Muslims in Iraq undermined his efforts.
