Israeli Collusion With Britain and France
There’s a great read in the July 27th edition of the Economist that reminds me of the perils associated with the imperialistic endeavors involving the US, Britain, and France in relationship to the Suez Crisis of the 50’s.
Britain and France wanted control of the Suez Canal, but had no basis for invading Egypt, so they colluded with Israel who was willing to put up a smoke screen that would then allow for an invading force to keep the peace and then control the canal.
“The Israelis provided a way out. On September 30th a delegation secretly presented the French with a fabricated casus belli: Israel would invade Egypt and race to the canal. The French and British could then invade, posing as peacekeepers to separate the two sides, and occupy the canal, ostensibly to guarantee the free passage of shipping. When this plan was presented to Eden, he jumped at it. Thus was collusion born. The details were agreed on at a secret meeting in Sèvres, outside Paris. Not for nothing is the Suez crisis known in Egypt as the “tripartite aggression”.
The British and French forces now had a pretext to invade. For the Israelis, it would punish Egypt for its escalating incursions into Israel from Gaza. It would also hitch the major European powers to the cause of Israel: up to that point, the French had tried to be even-handed between Israel and its neighbours; the British had leaned towards the Arab states.”
It blew up in their faces when Eisenhower balked at the thought of such events and put the kibosh on their little masquerade.
“Eisenhower, kept completely in the dark, felt utterly betrayed by his erstwhile allies. “I’ve just never seen great powers make such a complete mess and botch of things,” he told his aides. He determined to put a stop to the whole enterprise.
America struck at Britain’s fragile economy. It refused to allow the IMF to give emergency loans to Britain unless it called off the invasion. Faced by imminent financial collapse, as the British Treasury saw it, on November 7th Eden surrendered to American demands and stopped the operation, with his troops stranded half way down the canal. The French were furious, but obliged to agree; their troops were under British command.”
They royal schlacking that the Brits in particular gave Egypt through the years in part fuelled the rise of “radicals” associated with Islam while all they really wanted was to be left alone. The Muslim Brotherhood formed during the height of Egyptian fury over the peddling nature of the British government. Ayman al-Zawahiri, 1st Lieutentant of Al-Qaeda, joined the Muslim Brotherhood at 14 years of age. It was the Egyptian intellectual, Sayyid Qutb, that really furthered the movement though. It’s no coincidence that we’re faced with radical forms of Islam wherever colonial powers once roamed in the Middle-East and South Asia in particular.
Condi Rice should have used her recent trip to the Middle-East to persuade Israel and Hezbollah to an unconditional cease fire. It would have been the first time since the Suez that “America was to take strong action against Israel.” I’m not trying to argue right or wrong in the current conflict that will finally reach a UN negotiated cease fire on Monday, August 14th. What I do know is that Lebanese civilians have been amongst the largest casualties and Israel will be no safer in the end.
Link: The Suez crisis: An affair to remember (subscription required)