Word: canals
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...unstoppable Israeli thrust through the Sinai Desert quickly became known as the blintzkrieg. It was led by the crack regiment known as the Bagel Lancers. When Israeli troops reached the Suez Canal, they grabbed the lox. At one point in the campaign, an Arab division spotted a lone Israeli sniper on a sand dune. The commander dispatched three men to get him. When they did not return, he sent a dozen. None of them came back. So he finally sent an entire company. Two hours later, one blood-splattered Egyptian soldier crawled back. "It was an ambush," he explained. "There...
Next day, as Israeli troops captured the west bank of the Suez Canal, Jordan broke ranks and accepted the U.N. cease-fire that Moscow had been desperately trying to arrange for three days to save the Arabs from total disaster. The Egyptians fought one final tank battle at Suez in a frantic attempt to open a retreat path for what was left of their 80,000-man ground force in Sinai; then they, too, agreed to the ceasefire. Syria joined the chorus only a few hours later...
Another problem for the Arabs is that the world is not so dependent upon their oil or upon Egypt's Suez Canal as it was during the 1956 war with Israel. Since that time, other nations have developed flourishing oil industries. Venezuelan oilmen were actually licking their lips in prospect of finally being in a position to raise prices on the country's crude. Many Arabs seemed to recognize their untenable oil situation. And thus, although Radio Damascus called on workers to "blow up oil pipelines all over the Arab world," nobody showed up to light a match...
...with the 50-ship U.S. Sixth Fleet on alert in the Mediterranean, and at least half a dozen British vessels, including the 23,000-ton aircraft carrier Hermes, ready to move into the Red Sea from Aden. The U.S. carrier Intrepid, ostensibly bound for Viet Nam, transited the Suez Canal as anti-American demonstrators waved their shoes at the ship in the Egyptian equivalent of a Bronx cheer. An eleven-unit U.S. antisubmarine group headed toward the Mideast; the British commando carrier Albion broke off maneuvers in the North Sea and made for an undisclosed destination...
...world's eyes centered on the Gulf of Aqaba, where the danger of an episode that could cause open warfare was greatest. Ever since Nasser closed the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping in 1956, the port of Elath has been Israel's main outlet for its growing export trade with Asia and East Africa. More important, it has become the port of entry for nearly 90% of the country's oil supplies. The Strait of Tiran, where coral reefs and the hulk of an ancient sunken ship make passage difficult under the best conditions, is easy...