Suez Canal

Intro:

• an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia
• 193.30-kilometre-long
• Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869.
• The canal officially opened on 17 November 1869.
• It offers vessels a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans
• Reducing the journey distance from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi), to 10 days at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
• The canal was the property of the Egyptian government, but European shareholders, mostly British and French, owned the concessionary company Suez Canal Company, which operated it until July 1956.
• when President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised it—an event which led to the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956.
• Now, the canal is operated and maintained by the state-owned Suez Canal Authority(SCA) of Egypt.
• Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag."

Suez canal crisis:

• In 1951 Egypt repudiated the 1936 treaty with Great Britain.
• In October 1954 the UK tentatively agreed to remove its troops from the Canal Zone.
• Because of Egyptian overtures towards the Soviet Union, both the United Kingdom and the United States withdrew their pledge to financially support construction of the Aswan Dam across the Nile river.
• Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser responded by nationalising the canal on 26 July 1956, and transferring it to the Suez Canal Authority, intending to finance the dam project using revenue from the canal.
• On the same day Nasser also closed the Straits of Tiran (connects Gulf of Aqaba with the Red sea between Sinai and Arabian peninsula) to all Israel ships. ![obsidian|250][Strait_tiran.jpg]
• This led to the Suez Crisis in which the UK, France, and Israel invaded Egypt.
• According to the pre-agreed war plans under the Protocol of Sevres, Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula on 29 October, forcing Egypt to engage them militarily, and allowing the Anglo-French partnership to declare the resultant fighting a threat to stability in the Middle East and enter the war – officially to separate the two forces but in reality to regain the Canal and bring down the Nasser government.
• To save the British from what he thought was a disastrous action and to stop the war from a possible escalation, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson proposed the creation of the first United Nations peacekeeping force to ensure access to the canal for all and an Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.
• On 4 November 1956, a majority at the United Nations voted for Pearson's peacekeeping resolution, which mandated the UN peacekeepers to stay in Sinai unless both Egypt and Israel agreed to their withdrawal.
• The United States backed this proposal by putting pressure on the British government through the selling of sterling, which would cause it to depreciate.
• Britain then called a ceasefire, and later agreed to withdraw its troops by the end of the year.
• Pearson was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• As a result of damage and ships sunk under orders from Nasser the canal was closed until April 1957, when it was cleared with UN assistance.
• A UN force (UNEF) was established to maintain the free navigability of the canal, and peace in the Sinai Peninsula.