Saddam Hussein in 1957 at the age of 20 to join the revolutionary pan-Arab Ba'ath Party, of which his uncle was a supporter. During this time, Saddam apparently supported himself as a secondary school teacher. Revolutionary sentiment was characteristic of the era in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. In Iraq progressives and socialists assailed traditional political elites (colonial era bureaucrats and landowners, wealthy merchants and tribal chiefs, and monarchists). Moreover, the pan-Arab nationalism of Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt profoundly influenced young Ba'athists like Saddam. The rise of Nasser foreshadowed a wave of revolutions throughout the Middle East in the 1950s
History of the Arab–Israeli conflict into the confrontation and thereby make it difficult for Arab regimes to remain in the coalition. During the war, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and King Hussein of Jordan supported Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, while PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had allegedly received $100 million from Saddam Hussein. However, under strong pressure from the US, which feared direct Israeli involvement would threaten the unity of the coalition, Israel did not retaliate against Iraq and the multinational coalition ousted Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The defeat of Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War "was a devastating blow to ... the Palestinians." After the