September 2009 (UTC) 

 ::::::You're missing the point, and that is that the Arab countries themselves recognized Eritrea itself as part of the Arab world, not its nationalist movement ("Arab publications often referred to Eritrea as part of the Arab world"). Although Eritrea was a part of Ethiopia at the time, it already had ties with the Arab world long before Ethiopia ever annexed it just after World War II & it was already referred to as a distinct territory in the literature. 

 ::::::*Syrian maps of the Arab world have always included Eritrea.  The struggle over Eritrea, 1962-1978: war and revolution in the Horn of Africa‎ (Page 59) 

 ::::::*Failing to conquer Ethiopia, the Italians carved out a colony along the Red Sea, called it Eritrea, and governed it as a separate political entity from 1890 until World War II. Even before the Italians gained control over Eritrea it was set apart politically and culturally from Ethiopia. Unlike Ethiopia, which remained primarily a Christian country surrounded by Islamic states, Eritrea retained strong ties with the Arab world, was part of the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and was occupied by the Egyptians in the 1860s, shortly before Italy arrived.  Opportunities and dangers of Soviet-Cuban expansion: toward a pragmatic U.S. policy (p.28) 

 ::::::Also, a great deal more than some Arab states viewed Eritrea as part of the Arab world. 

 ::::::The Arab states, seeing Eritrea and its Muslim population as an extension of the Arab world, then sought the establishment of an independent state.  Eritrea by Randall Fegley (p.xxxviii) 

 ::::::And Eritrea is of course a member of the Arab League/League of Arab States.   03:33, 3