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Sam Krupnikoff
Mr. Mehos
MIddle East
4 March 2016
Gamal Abdel Nassers Pivotal Role in the Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Egyptian leader from June 23, 1956, to September 28, 1970 was Gamal Abdel
Nasser,1 who was a strong influence in the outcome of the Suez Crisis in 1956 and the Six-Day
War in 1967. Nasser believed in Pan-Arabism, and this meant he had to have an enemy: the
Western World, and Israel whom he saw as a dagger pointed towards the heart of the Middle
East. Both of these events were caused because of his instigatory, anti-Israeli, anti-Western
decisions, giving Nasser a pivotal role regarding the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War.
The Suez Crisis in 1956, was a result of the United States removing the offer for a loan to build
the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Initially, Nasser opposed the offer since it would allow the Western
World to have some control over Egypt, and he would then not be able to use the money to buy
weapons. If Nasser had not said no initially the deal most likely would have happened. On the
contrary, the United States pulled out of the offer for three reasons. First, Nasser had bought
arms from Czechoslovakia (basically like buying arms from Russia), and he recognized
communist China. Second, Egypts army had been harassing British troops at the Suez Canal,
and the Egyptian military had also been antagonizing Israel through border raids. Without a
doubt, Gamal Abdel Nasser caused the removal of the Aswan Dam Loan from the United
States.
After the Aswan Dam deal was terminated, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez
Canal by evicting the British troops who managed and controlled the canal and the surrounding
area. The Egyptian combatants also had been blocking Israeli ships from going through the

1 http://www.britannica.com/biography/Gamal-Abdel-Nasser

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Straits of Tiran since 1951 and the Suez Canal starting then. Additionally, Egypt signed a
Tripartite Agreement with Syria and Jordan giving Egypt control of the militaries of all three
countries. Nassers motivation for this was most likely his hate of the west trying to intervene in
Middle Eastern affairs, and his belief peace in the Middle East would only exist upon Israels
extinction.
The United States commanded the British and French not to use military action, and
while the French and British themselves did not use military action, they had Israel do this for
them. The British secretly encouraged Israel to attack and free the Suez Canal for them and the
French, which Israel agreed to, to get their ships back to being able to go through the
waterways and to get back at Egypt for terrorizing them who had been unleashing the Fedayeen
on them. After this, the French and British would call for a ceasefire, knowing the Egyptians
would not accept one, making the Egyptians appear as the aggressors. Israel mobilized
100,000 soldiers and captured the Sinai by November 5, and after this, the British captured Port
Said and advanced to within 25 miles of Suez City before agreeing to cease-fire. Israel also
captured the Gaza Strip (Egypt lost 3000 troops), which they still control today. Israel gained
more land on top of this, but since the US and USSR threatened Israel with sanctions among
other bad impacts, Israel gave back the land to the Arabs sewing the seeds for the Six-Day War
in 1967. Without Nassers anti-western decisions, the SUez Crisis in 1956 would not have been
such a conflict.
The Six-Day War in 1967 was a result of Nasser leading Egypt and the other Arab
nations surrounding Israel to antagonize and instigate a conflict that would ultimately lead to the
extermination of Israel. In 1965, 31 raids were conducted on Israel, and then in 1966, 41 attacks
occurred against Israel; suddenly, these attacks intensified in 1967, with 37 attacks in the first
four months of the year. All of these attacks were on civilians in Israel, and they came from PLO
attacks called the Fedayeen originating from Syria, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip. Even though
these actions were not carried out by Egypt, the orders came from Cairo and Damascus. In

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addition, Syria was growing hostile towards Israel as well since Israel diverted water from the
National Water Carrier from Jordan River into Israel, away from Syria. This angered Syria since
they were losing water, and Syria used the Golan Heights to shell Israeli towns and villages as a
result. The UN did nothing about this even when Israel complained, yet they condemned Israel
when they retaliated against Syria.
As these attacks intensified, Nassers rhetoric became more bellicose, where he
constantly threatened Israels existence. Again, Nasser blockaded waterways Israel used to
transport their goods, and he amassed around 465,000 troops, 2,800 tanks, and 800 aircraft
around Israel. Gamal Abdel Nasser, signed agreements giving control of armies of countries
bordering Israel such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, allowing him to amass so many troops.
Israel attacked first on June 5, 1967, and in under two hours, 300 Egyptian aircraft were
destroyed. By the end of the day, almost the entirety of the Egyptian and Jordanian air forces
were decimated. Israel tripled its size following this by gaining: the Gaza Strip, the West Bank,
the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, and all of Jerusalem, and the world was stunned by all
of this. All of this, destroyed Nassers plan and gave him an image of being powerless.
Nasser had many motives for his actions in both the Suez Crisis in 1956 and the Six-Day
War in 1967. Mainly, he needed someone to provoke: the United States and Israel, to achieve
his goal of Pan-Arabism. Interestingly in the book The 1967 Arab-Israeli War: Origins and
Consequences by William Roger Louis, he believed Nasser never wanted to cause a war, he
just wanted to have someone to provoke to achieve his goal.2 Clearly, Nassers motivations
were not meant to create war just aggravating conflict.
Gamal Abdel Nasser the Egyptian president for almost 15 years and a leader in the PanArabism movement, strongly impacted the outcome of the Suez Crisis in 1956 and the Six-Day
2https://books.google.com/books?id=AqshAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=nasser
%27s+motives&source=bl&ots=CNpxSJzLWY&sig=ickeOJ7eaQLJ_PQnu0aL1ZIg0U&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE777p6aXLAhXFlR4KHWL2BwoQ6AEIHTAB#v
=onepage&q&f=false

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War in 1967. His biggest enemy in his mind was the Western World, but mainly Israel whose
destruction he hoped and dreamed for. Both the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War would not
have happened if Nasser had not made the choices he did, giving Nasser the same role in both
of these events.