Word: canal
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...confronted with a problem unique in the proud history of Britain: they were afraid that Egypt and Israel would stop fighting and peace would break out in the Middle East. All Monday afternoon, as British paratroops ground down on Port Said and a Franco-British fleet hovered off the canal's mouth, Britain's Cabinet debated tensely. One member pointed out that the man who stepped in to referee a fight would hardly be justified in attacking the boxers if they stopped fighting. There was a murmur of uncomfortable assent. But Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden had gone...
...this unresolved note, the Cabinet adjourned. In the House of Commons, the Opposition hammered at the government on the difference between what Eden said and what he did. Eden had said Britain was protecting the canal; but the British broadcasts from Cyprus were telling Egyptians: "You have committed a sin, that is, you placed your confidence in Nasser and his lies." Said Labor's Nye Bevan: "Here you have not a military action to separate Israeli and Egyptian troops. Here you have a declaration of war against the Egyptian government in the most terrible terms...
...three months since Nasser seized the Suez Canal Co., Anthony Eden has averaged less than five hours' sleep a night. He did not get much that night. At 1:30 he was roused by a secretary carrying the hectoring threat from Russia's Bulganin: "We are fully determined to crush the aggressors and restore peace in the East through the use of force." Minutes later, a worried Guy Mollet called from Paris. Then a message arrived from U.N. Secretary Dag Hammarskjold announcing that both Egypt and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire. Eden summoned some of his advisers...
...months, the only case he could see in the Middle East was whatever would lead to dumping Nasser. In his difference with Dulles over Suez. Dulles again and again made the point that the West, as the canal's users, must impress the Arab world that its long-range interests lay with the West, and if the Arabs wanted the West's capital and technical aid they must have the West's confidence. Eden could see only one need. All his plans were aimed at bringing about Nasser's downfall, and he refused to look beyond...
...Eden pleaded that Britain wanted to keep the canal open. The day of Israel's invasion a record northbound convoy of 36 ships moved through the canal. By the time British-French troops landed, the canal was blocked and will be for "several" months...