360 ChaPter^7
By 1948, Jews controlled about 80 percent of Palestine–an absolute reversal
of their prewar holdings–and the U.N. and U.S. recognized Israel [no longer
called Palestine] as an independent state. Palestinians would remain furious
at this land grab, and the Arab world in general would see the U.S. as an
enemy force because of its support of Israel.
At around the same time, in the early 1950s, another issue would arise to
cause future problems for the U.S.–Arab nationalism. This concept–the idea
that the Arab states should work together to fight off European and U.S.
involvement in their countries, especially their economies [oil], and promote
their own sovereignty–was particularly associated with the president of Egypt,
Gamel Abdel Nasser. Nasser had come to power in 1952 when he and other
military officers overthrow an old and pro-western monarchy. Nasser sought
to “modernize” Egypt–make it a more prosperous, industrial, and democratic
country–and hoped that other Arab states would join in his cause, and they
did. In fact, Nasser became one of the more famous and popular leaders in
the Third World and was a model for nationalist movements all over, not just
in the Middle East.
A key part of Nasser’s program was to develop an irrigation project for
Egypt, the Aswan High Dam, and the U.S. promised economic aid to him to
help build it. But Nasser angered the Americans at the same time by continu-
ing to seek good relations with the Communist countries, even receiving
weapons from Czechoslovakia and opening relations with the People’s
Republic of China. Nasser was most definitely not a Communist, but to the
Americans being neutral or nationalist was not much different, so the U.S.
canceled its funding for the Aswan project. “May you choke on your fury,”
Nasser lashed out at the U.S. and Britain. But words were not the problem,
his actions were. In late July, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which was
a joint French-British project of the Suez Canal Company. The canal cut
through Egypt and was a crucial shipping point in the region, the shortest link
between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean and vital to commerce and
military movements. The British and French, with Israeli support, decided to
take military action, and in late October began an invasion of Egypt to gain
control of and open Suez again to world shipping.
The invasion had a surprising critic, however–the Americans. Eisenhower
and Dulles were no fans of Nasser [as the cancellation of funding for Aswan
had shown] but they knew that a western invasion of Egypt would turn the