THE SUEZ CRISIS, 1956- Egypt took over Gaza after the 1948 war and had Palestinian refugees living under its administration.- Border raids by fedayeen into Israel were commonplace and often with reprisals.- In 1955, 39 Egyptians and Palestinians were killed and relations between Israel and Egypt worsened.

-USSR were selling arms to Egypt, due to this the Western withdrew financial support for the constructions of Nasser’s most important project, the Aswan Dam.

- Nasser took the most controversial but also the most popular decision, on August 4th 1956 the Suez Canal would be nationalized.

- He did it an act of bravado than of economic necessity, as the income from the canal was insufficient to build the dam.

- In September 1956, Israel, Britain and France hatched a secret plan to recover control of the canal.

- Israel would invade Egypt, France and Britain would sent troops on the pretext to protect the canal since it was an important international waterway.

- Prime Minster of Canada, brokered a peace and UN peacekeeping forces were sent to patrol the border with Israel.

- USA loudly condemned it.

- Khrushchev said “You have attacked Egypt, knowing that it is considerably weaker than you are, that it does not have much of an army, and that it does not have many weapons. There are other countries which are entirely capable of coming to Egypt’s defense.”

- Nasser emerged as a hero who had faced the last gap of imperialism, and his reputation reached new heights.

RESULT OF THE CRISIS

-Nasser’s popularity in Egypt was well and truly established.-Nasser’s fame spread beyond Egypt to neighboring states in the Middle East and Africa.-Relations between Egypt and Israel deteriorated.-UN peacekeepers moved in to patrol the border between Egypt and Israel.-Relations with USSR grew warmer.-Britain and France realized they were not longer world powers.-Once again USA and USSR emerged as world powers.

Nasser and Castro (1960)

DOMESTIC POLICIES

POLITICAL CHANGE-In June, 1956 Nasser introduced a new constitution for the Egyptian republic. This stated Islam was the state religion and Egypt was part of the Arab world.-The government was changed and was now led by a president (who hold in office for a 6 year term), a council of ministers and a National Assembly.-Nasser was reluctant to grant political freedom because he feared the voters would be drawn to the Muslim Brotherhood and the communists.-Women voted for the first time in July 1957.-The National Assembly was full of middle class professionals.

- There were significant changes, for instance:- Employment of children under 12 was abolished- Improvement of working conditions and health- Distribution of free food to the needy- Compulsory primary education- Secularize the religious courts These measures were criticized - Increase women’s rights by the Muslim Brotherhood

ECONOMIC CHANGE

-In 1957, Nasser had already spoken of the “Egyptianization”.-A five year plan (1958) was set in motion to increase the growth of industrial output. The investment would come from the government, private investment would be encouraged.-Nasser was disappointed at the limited success of this mixed public-private investment, this caused the nationalization of foreign banks, insurance companies, import-export agencies, foreign-owned businesses, etc.-The land reform had achieved so little; production levels had risen, but only 5% of the peasantry had benefitted from the redistribution of land.

- Two-thirds of businesses continued being private.

- Nasser wanted total control of the economy, but it was not achieved. Agricultural production gradually increased, there was higher investment in industry with expansion (Helwan steelworks), but progress still disappointing.