The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (38)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Chapter 1. Wave of nationalism and socialism (1945-1956) (22)

 

038. Both East and West blocks were at the mercy of Nasser (3/3)

 

Nasser allied with Nikita Khrushchev of Soviet Union. He constructed Aswan High Dam. Then he declared the nationalization of the Suez Canal. Britain and France fiercely reacted against Nasser. In 1956 they opened the fire against Egypt joining with Israel. It was the Suez War. The battle itself was favorable for British-France-Israeli Joint Forces due to their state-of-the-art armaments. Israel occupied the Sinai, and the Suez Canal was closed. Eilat, a town at the bottom of the Aqaba bay, was involved in the battle again after the Israel Independence War in 1948. When the Suez War was over, the Arabs evacuated from Eilat and only the Jews remained. A Palestinian peasant family, Zahara living in the suburbs of Eilat became a refugee. They escaped to adjacent port town Aqaba in Jordan accompanying eight-year-old son

 

International public opinion including the United States was critical all over Britain, France and Israel.  Nasser lost the battle but won the diplomacy, which made Nasser famous in the Arab world. He was raised to one of the prominent leaders in the Third World belonging neither the Eastern nor the Western blocks. In addition to Nasser, there were several leaders in the Third World. They were Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharial Nehru, Chinese Prime Minister, Zhou Enlai, President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito and Indonesian President, Sukarno. Nasser, Nehru, Zhou Enlai and Sukarno jointly held the first Asia-Africa Conference (so-called Bandung Conference) in 1955. It was the heyday of Nasser.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)