Israeli Attack on Egypt During Suez Crisis

In 1955, Egypt concluded a massive arms deal with Czechoslovakia, upsetting the balance of power in the Middle East. In 1956, the increasingly pro-Soviet President Nasser of Egypt announced the nationalization of the French and British-owned Suez Canal, which was Egypt's main source of foreign currency. Egypt also blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, preventing Israeli access to the Red Sea. Israel made a secret agreement with the French at Sèvres to coordinate military operations against Egypt. Britain and France had already begun secret preparations for military action. It has been alleged that the French also agreed to build a nuclear plant for the Israelis. Britain and France arranged for Israel to give them a pretext for seizing the Suez Canal. Israel was to attack Egypt, and Britain and France would then call on both sides to withdraw. When, as expected, the Egyptians refused, Anglo-French forces would invade to take control of the Canal. Israeli forces, commanded by General Moshe Dayan, attacked Egypt on 29 October 1956. On 30 October, Britain and France made their pre-arranged call for both sides to stop fighting and withdraw from the Canal area, and for them to be allowed to take up positions at key points on the Canal. Egypt refused, and the allies commenced air strikes on 31 October aimed at neutralizing the Egyptian air force. By 5 November, the Israelis had overrun the Sinai. The Anglo-French invasion began that day. There was uproar in the UN, with the US and USSR for once in agreement in denouncing the actions of Israel, Britain, and France. A demand for a ceasefire was reluctantly accepted on 7 November. At Egypt's request, the UN sent an Emergency Force (UNEF), consisting of 6000 peacekeeping troops from 10 nations to supervise the ceasefire—the first ever UN peacekeeping operation. From 15 November, the UN troops marked out a zone across the Sinai to separate the Israeli and Egyptian forces. Upon receiving US guarantees of Israeli access to the Suez Canal, freedom of access out of the Gulf of Aqaba, and Egyptian action to stop Palestinian raids from Gaza, the Israelis withdrew to the Negev. In practice, the Suez Canal remained closed to Israeli shipping. The conflict marked the end of West-European dominance in the Middle East. Nasser emerged as the victor in the conflict, having won the political battle, but the Israeli military learned that it did not need British or French support to conquer Sinai and that it could conquer the Sinai peninsula in a few days. The Israeli political leadership learned that Israel had a limited time frame within which to operate militarily after which international political pressure would restrict Israel's freedom of action.