Automatización

At the end of World War II, Britain’s control over the Middle East seemed solid. During the war the British had stationed huge numbers of troops in Egypt to protect their interests. With their allies, they had occupied much of Iran to keep supply lines to the Soviet Union open. They had forced Reza Shah Pahlavi to step down and placed his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, on the throne. British troops had occupied Syria along with the Free French and had established control over Iraq. In addition, the British still held their mandate for Palestine, despite opposition from both Jews and Arabs. Britain’s control over the Middle East, however, was about to slip away.

The creation of Israel. In 1939 the British reversed the Balfour Declaration, which had pledged to secure a Jewish national homeland. Instead they favored an end to Jew- ish immigration and the creation of an Arab Palestinian state. The Jewish Agency, which oversaw the affairs of the Jewish community in Palestine, supported increased Jewish immigration as survivors of the Nazi Holocaust fled Europe. The Holocaust had left hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees stranded. Once the war was over, the Jewish Agency withdrew its support for the British mandate because Britain refused to allow Holocaust survivors to resettle in Palestine.

✔

Windows in Jerusalem

As Jews settled in Palestine and, later, in the Jewish state of Israel, they constructed houses, schools, and other facilities. One of these was a hospital in Jerusalem. Shown in the picture are stained-glass windows from the hospital’s synagogue. There are 12 win- dows in all, each devoted to one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Marc Chagall, a Russian Jewish artist who settled in France, designed the win- dows. By Jewish law, images of people cannot appear in synagogues. The artist there- fore cleverly used symbols of animals, birds, plants, and fish to tell Jewish stories and con- vey his faith.

How did Marc Chagall convey his faith through his art?

Understanding the Arts

Meanwhile extremist Zionist groups waged a terrorist campaign against British authorities. In 1946 a group called the Irgun, led by Menachem Begin(BAY·guhn),

blew up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Eventually a virtual state of war existed between the British and the Zionists.

In 1947 Britain gave up its Palestinian mandate and referred the entire problem to the United Nations. In November of that year the UN voted to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Jerusalem would be an international city. The Arabs unanimously rejected the UN plan, while the Zionist leaders accepted it. In May 1948 Israel declared its independence as a sovereign Jewish state. Chaim Azriel Weizmann became its first president and David Ben-Gurion its first prime minister.

The establishment of a Jewish nation infuriated Palestinian Arabs. As soon as British troops withdrew from the area, armies from neighboring Arab countries moved against Israel. Although outnumbered, the determined Israelis won. When the war ended in early 1949, Israel had won more territory than it had been given in the UN partition plan. The Arabs accepted a cease-fire, but UN-sponsored efforts to negotiate permanent peace failed.

One Arab nation gained land from the 1948 war. What remained of the proposed Palestinian state was officially annexed by Transjordan (now Jordan) in 1950. Other Arabs, including many Palestinians, bitterly opposed this action. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been expelled from the land claimed by Israel were living as refugees in camps. The Israeli government would not allow the return of the Palestinians, nor would it pay the Palestinians for lands seized. Palestinian lands were given to Jewish immigrants. Most Arab countries refused to resettle the Palestinians, arguing that such a move would justify the seizure of their lands or lessen the pressure on Israel to return the lands.

From 1948 to 1960 Israel absorbed about 1.3 million immigrants. That number almost tripled the Jewish population of the country. The use of the kibbutz,a type of collective farm that exists in Israel, helped turn desert areas into productive land.

Egypt. In addition to their problems in Palestine, the British also faced Egyptian demands for true independence. The presence of large numbers of British troops in Egypt after the war angered many Egyptian nationalists. So, too, did Britain’s contin- uing control of the Sudan, which Egypt considered an Egyptian province. Between 1945 and 1952, efforts to negotiate a complete British evacuation from Egypt failed. Meanwhile King Farouk I of Egypt headed a corrupt and inefficient government that came under fire from both nationalists and reformers.

In 1952 a group of army leaders toppled the monarchy and made Egypt a republic. A popular young officer,Gamal Abdel Nasser, emerged as Egypt’s new leader.

Nasser decided to rid Egypt of foreign domination once and for all. In 1954 Great Britain agreed to evacuate the Suez base and to allow free elections in the Sudan. Sudan chose independence rather than union with Egypt. In domestic affairs Nasser emphasized land reform, indus- trialization, greater government control over the economy, and expanded rights for women. His development projects to modernize Egypt were expensive, and he soon decided to seek aid from both the East and West. His efforts led to a crisis over the Suez Canal.

If the Holocaust had not occurred during World War II, do you think the United Nations would have supported the creation of Israel? Why or why not?

What If?

General Gamal Abdel Nasser (seated second from left) invited members of the world’s media to see Egypt celebrate the first anniversary of the 1952 revolution that deposed King Farouk.

893

894 CHAPTER 33

The Suez Crisis. In 1955 Nasser announced an arms agreement between Egypt and Czechoslovakia (acting for the Soviet Union). The United States and Britain became alarmed over the possibil- ity of an alliance between Egypt and the Eastern bloc. They offered funds for Nasser’s most ambitious project—the construc- tion of a dam at Aswan on the Nile. The Aswan High Dam would irrigate new lands for farming and produce hydroelectric power. United States and British leaders hoped that this offer would keep Egypt from slipping further under Soviet influence.

Nasser hesitated, hoping for a better offer from the Soviets. He also recognized the communist People’s Republic of China. When he finally agreed to the U.S. and British offer, he was told it had been withdrawn. Nasser viewed this as an insult to Egypt- ian national dignity. In response, he nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956.

The canal had been controlled primarily by British and French shareholders since the 1800s. This control had long been resented by Egyptians, whose labor had built the canal. Many felt that foreign funding of the canal had cost the country its independence. Nasser planned to use the revenues from the canal to fund the Aswan High Dam. His action was also a public way to assert his independence from European domination of Egypt. To Arabs and anticolonial nationalists, Nasser became a great hero. To the West, he became a demon. National- ization of the canal led to a confrontation with old colonial powers.

Britain, France, and Israel felt the most threatened by the move. The Egyptians refused to allow Israeli ships to pass through the canal. Britain and France were out- raged because they both had a stake in the company that built the canal. They worried that Egypt, which was friendly to the Soviet Union, now controlled a waterway through which much of the world’s trade passed.

Israel, Britain, and France conspired to overthrow Nasser and take control of the canal. They agreed that Israel should launch a lightning attack across the canal into Egypt. Britain and France would then intervene, supposedly to separate the Israelis and Egyptians. In reality, they would help destroy the Egyptian armed forces and reestablish European control over Suez.

At first the plan went well. Israel advanced through the Gaza Strip and into the Sinai Peninsula, moving toward the canal. Great Britain and France demanded an Egyptian cease-fire and insisted on temporary control of the Canal. When Egypt refused, British and French troops seized the Mediterranean end of the canal. Both sides sank ships in the canal to block it.

The United States, under President Dwight Eisenhower, worried that the Soviets would be drawn into the crisis. With that fear in mind, the United States intervened. Privately, Eisenhower threatened to cut off all U.S. aid to Britain unless the invasion ended and the Anglo-French forces withdrew. The British agreed, and the invasion collapsed.

In a UN-negotiated settlement, Britain and France withdrew their forces. The Israelis withdrew after gaining a vague guarantee that Egypt would allow Israeli ships through the canal. Later, however, Egypt blockaded the canal. A UN force was sent to patrol the cease-fire line between the Israelis and the Egyptians in the Sinai Desert. The Suez Crisiswas seen as the final defeat of European imperialism. Nasser became

The Suez Crisis The picture shows ships blocking the Suez Canal during the Suez Crisis. What problems would sinking these ships create for both sides when the crisis finally ended?

the most popular leader in the Arab world. Many Middle Eastern countries now turned toward their political and social development.

READING CHECK: Sequencing What were the major events in the British sphere of influence in the Middle East and North Africa from the end of World War II to Egypt’s victory in the Suez Crisis?