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Al-Jazeera Suez Crisis

The second Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Suez War, broke out on

October 29, 1956 when Israel, reat !ritain and "rance launched a #oint

attack a$ainst %$&'t ai(ed at institutin$ a )re$i(e chan$e) and de'osin$a(al Abdel *asser, the countr&)s charis(atic leader+

!ut this si$niicant war ailed to achiee its $oals and (arked the decline

o !ritain)s colonial 'owers in the .iddle %ast+

It also brou$ht ho(e the realities o /old War 'olitics+

Tensions irst arose when *asser struck an ar(s deal with

/zechosloakia 0 a (oe that worried reat !ritain and the S who

iewed it as a shit towards closer ties with the Soiet nion+

The World !ank, 'rodded b& the S, retaliated b& withdrawin$ a loan to

%$&'t or the buildin$ o the Aswan a(+ In the on$oin$ tit-or-tat,

*asser sur'rised the world b& nationalisin$ the Suez /anal, a ital

waterwa&, and re'lacin$ the 'riate An$lo-"rench co('an& which ran it+

Sur'rise (oe

In 2336, Adel %zzat, who worked closel& with *asser, recalled the

(o(ents leadin$ u' to the nationalisation decision+

4Onl& three o us were in the know,4 %zzat told A"+

e had been workin$ with .oha((ed 7unes, )s adiser on 'etroleu(

aairs+

4resident *asser had chosen us to carr& out the nationalisation,4 %zzatsaid+

4On 8ul& 2, 1956, I (et or the irst ti(e durin$ the celebrations or

the ourth anniersar& o the reolution+

4The 'resident whis'ered so(ethin$ in 7unes) ear,4 %zzat recalls+

4Oer the ne:t 2; hours, 7unes see(ed a$itated and 'reoccu'ied+4

4The ne:t da&, he su((oned (e and (& collea$ue Abdel a(id Abu !akr

in his oice and locked the door behind us, which I ound er& odd+

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The three $rou's anned out+ The& cre't u' to the co('an&)s oices

but sta&ed out o si$ht, as the& listened to )s s'eech, their hearts

throbbin$ with an:iet&+

eaceul o'eration

4The 'resident said )de =esse's)+ Then he re'eated it a second ti(e, anda third, as i he eared we hadn)t heard hi(+4

%zzat sa&s the co((andos went in at around ?>33 '(, ound (ostl&

e('t& oices and si('l& inor(ed the $uards that the& had co(e to

nationalise the + *o blood was shed+

4The 'resident then delieered his s'eech on the nationalisation+ eo'le

'oured into the streets and their su''ort $ae us (ore stren$th,4 he

recalls+

At that (o(ent, re$ained control o the 19th centur& canal or whoseconstruction an esti(ated 125,333 %$&'tians 'erished in orced labour+

Secret tri'artite strate$&

!ut !ritain, as a or(er colonial occu'ier o

the countr&, and "rance were deter(ined to

'unish *asser+

*asser @uickl& blockaded the ul o A@aba,

barrin$ Israel)s access to the ed Sea+

While reat !ritain saw the conlict as a

(eans to re$ain lost $round, Israel sou$ht to inade %$&'t or econo(ic

and strate$ic interests+

aris on the other hand, had been an$ered b& *asser)s su''ort o the

Al$erian rebellion a$ainst "rench colonisers+"rance, !ritain and Israel en$ineered a secret 'lan whereb& the 8ewish

State would seize the /anal+ !ritain and "rance would then de(and the

withdrawal o both Israel and %$&'t ro( the /anal Bone+ I %$&'t

reused, as e:'ected, !ritain and "rance would interene and orce the

%$&'tians out+

On October 29, Israel initiated the hostilities when it inaded aza and

the Sinai, then, on October 3, (oed to the Suez /anal zone+

An Israeli tank convoy crosses into Gazaen

route to the Sinai in October 1!" #GE$$%&