Daniel Akill-Attieh's Blog | 397: THE 1956 SUEZ CRISIS AND THE ARAB/ISRAELI 6-DAY WAR: 5th June to 10th June 1967

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397: THE 1956 SUEZ CRISIS AND THE ARAB/ISRAELI 6-DAY WAR: 5th June to 10th June 1967

07 October, 2008

THE 1956 SUEZ CRISIS AND THE ARAB/ISRAELI 6-DAY WAR: 5^th June to 10^th June 1967

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression; Arabic: أزمة السويس العدوان الثلاثي‎ French: Crise du canal de Suez; Hebrew: מבצע קדש‎ Kadesh Campaign, or מלחמת סיני Sinai War, was a military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel on 29^th October, 1956. The attack followed Egypt's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal on 26^th July 1956 after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam.

The Suez Crisis – Time-table:

26^th July 1956: The Egyptian President, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal and its operating Suez Canal Company in retaliation to the reneging of an agreement by the American and British Governments to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam. The Suez Canal represented the main route of supply of oil for Britain and France and the potential loss of those supplies represented an economic threat that they could ill ignore.

27^th July: The British Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, formed the Egypt Committee, consisting of himself, Lord Salisbury (Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords), Lord Home (the Commonwealth Secretary), and Harold Macmillan (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) to co-ordinate Britain's intent to recover her access to the Suez Canal. The Foreign Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd and the Defence Minister Sir Walter Monckton later became members of the Egypt Committee.

16^th-23^rd August: A conference of nations met in London in an attempt to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis and adopted eighteen proposals including an offer of Egyptian representation on the Suez Canal Company board and a share in its profits.

3^rd-9^th September: The Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, travelled to Cairo to offer Nasser the eighteen proposals which he rejected. Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, sought to distance the US Government from support for military intervention, ever mindful of President Eisenhower's hopes for re-election in the November US Presidential elections.

19^th-21^st September: A second conference of nations was held in London to discuss American proposals for a Suez Canal Users Association to ensure continued international use of the Canal.

13^th October: The USSR vetoed the American proposals in the United Nations Security Council.

14^th October: Sir Anthony Eden held secret discussions with French officials over a military operation to recover use of the Canal. The talks resulted in the formation of a plan by which Israel would invade Egypt and thus allow British and French forces to seize the Canal as an act of intervention between warring nations.

22^nd-24^th October: The British Foreign Secretary, Selwyn Lloyd, concluded the agreement with French and Israeli officials at Sèvres, France. The British copy of the resulting Sèvres Protocol was subsequently destroyed on Eden's orders.

25^th October: Eden gained approval for military intervention from a divided cabinet. The Foreign Office was split over the Government's intention to adopt military action or measures – Daniel: Mad dogs and Englishmen! Not all Englishmen are mad.

29^th October: Israeli forces invade Egypt

30^th October: Nasser rejected the British and French ultimatum for an end to hostilities

5^th-6^th November: On the night of 5^th-6^th November, British and French troops invaded Port Said and took control of the Suez Canal. In a meeting of the British cabinet on 6^th November, Harold Macmillan raised stark warnings of economic peril as a result of the action. Macmillan had previously been one of the strongest supporters of resolute action. The US Presidential elections resulted in the re-election of Eisenhower.

7^th November: The United States, the USSR, and the United Nations condemned the British and French military action. The loss of confidence and American backing for the already weak British economy forced Eden into calling a cease-fire. British public opinion was deeply divided over the use of force.

9^th January 1957: Under the impact of the Crisis, Sir Eden's already fragile health deteriorated to such an extent that he was forced to resign. Ill health or not; politically, Eden's premiership had little future.

10^th January: Harold Macmillan replaced Eden as Prime Minister.

The Six-Day War; Arabic: حرب الأيام الستة‎, Ḥarb al‑Ayyam al‑Sitta or more commonly Arabic: حرب 1967‎ Ḥarb 1967 Hebrew: מלחמת ששת הימים‎ Milhemet Sheshet Ha‑Yamim, also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the Third Arab-Israeli War, the 6-Day War, Arabic: Al‑Naksah The Setback, or the June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbours: Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms to the Arab forces – Daniel: That was some war – a fair war to the Arabs – one country alone against 10 countries!

In May 1967, Egypt's president, Gamal the Camel Abdel Nasser, expelled the United Nations Emergency Force UNEF from the Sinai Peninsula, which had been stationed there since 1957 following the 1956 Suez Crisis to provide a peace-keeping buffer zone. Egypt also amassed 1,000 tanks and 100,000 soldiers on the border, closed the Straits of Tiran to all ships flying Israeli flags or carrying strategic materials, and called for a unified Arab action against Israel.On 5^th June, 1967, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Egypt's air-force. Jordan, which had signed a mutual defence treaty with Egypt on 30^th May, attacked western Jerusalem and Netanya. At the end of the war, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The results of that foolish, farcical and futile – and ill-advised – war affect the geopolitics of the region to this day.

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