Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
22 October
1956: FRANCE AND BRITAIN USE ISRAELI ATTACK DOG
On this day in 1956, representatives of the governments of Britain, France and Israel met secretly for three days in Sevres, France to plan an invasion of Egypt. Before the US and USSR compelled the three military forces to withdraw, the invaders had killed up to 4,000 Egyptians in trying to topple Egyptian President Nasser. The Nuremberg Tribunal on War crimes after WWII had declared in its judgment: "To initiate a war of aggression is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime.”
1956 فرنسا وبريطانيا تستخدمان إسرائيل ككلب هجوم سنة
22 أكتوبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 1956، التقى ممثلو حكومات بريطانيا وفرنسا وإسرائيل سراً لمدة ثلاثة أيام في سوفر بفرنسا للتخطيط لغزو مصر. وقبل أن تجبر الولايات المتحدة والاتحاد السوفييتي القوات العسكرية الثلاث على الانسحاب، قتل الغزاة ما يصل إلى 4000 مصري في محاولة للإطاحة بالرئيس المصري ناصر. وصرحت محكمة نورمبرغ بشأن جرائم الحرب بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية في حكمها أن: "بدء حرب عدوانية ليس جريمة دولية فحسب؛ بل هي جريمة دولية كبرى".
The Protocol of Sèvres,1956: Anatomy of a War Plot by Avi Shlaim in International Affairs
The tripartite aggression against Egypt in 1956 involved an extraordinary reversal of Britain’s position in the Middle East. The French were the matchmakers in bringing Britain and Israel into a military pact whose principal aim was the overthrow of Gamal Abdel Nasser. The war plot against Egypt was hatched towards the end of October 1956 in a secret meeting in Sèvres, near Paris. The discussions lasted three days and culminated in the signature of the Protocol of Sèvres...the most famous war plot in modern history.
On 24 October 1956, in a private villa in Sèvres on the outskirts of Paris, representatives of the British, French, and Israeli governments, at the end of a three-day meeting which was concealed behind a thick veil of secrecy, signed a most curious document which later came to be known as the Protocol of Sèvres. The document set out in precise detail the plan of the three governments to attack Egypt. The plan, in a nutshell, was that Israel would attack the Egyptian army near the Suez Canal, and that this attack would serve as the pretext for an Anglo-French military intervention. Written in French and typed in three copies, this Protocole was signed by Patrick Dean, an Assistant Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office for Britain, by foreign minister Christian Pineau for France, and by prime minister David Ben-Gurion for Israel. To the end of his days Sir Anthony Eden, the driving force on the British side on the road to war, denied that there had been any collusion with Israel or even foreknowledge that Israel would attack Egypt. The Protocol of Sèvres tells a different story.
The Nuremberg International Military Tribunal branded aggressive war as “the supreme international crime.” There, for the first time in history, those responsible for “crimes against peace,” - “the planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances” - were personally held accountable for their crimes.
The tripartite invasion of Egypt in 1956, carefully and secretly planned at Sevres, showed this was only for those defeated in wars. Israel, Britain and France were able to launch numerous aggressive attacks in the years following.
British forces committed war crimes and some pilots published their crimes later with impunity.
Meanwhile, Sqn Ldr Blyth of 8 Squadron led a strike against Shallufa, Followed by an armed reconnaissance of the Ismailia/al-Qantara area in company with Flt Lt Harcourt Smith.
[They overflew a lagoon and saw several Egyptian fishing boats] “Suddenly I saw a lot of stuff coming from the Boss’s aircraft. He was shooting at the boats. I followed suit. Perhaps we shouldn’t have shot at them. We knew it was strictly forbidden to fire at civilians. It may have been a sign of frustration. For the last few days the campaign had seemed to be without any real purpose. There were virtually no opposition..."
Wings Over Suez. Cull, Nicolle, Aloni, pp. 298-9
In a 17 October 2021 article, Guardian journalist William Keegan raised the issue of the Suez crisis and airbrushed Israel out of the story:
For younger readers, I should point out that Britain realised the limits of the arrogance that went with empire when it had to pull out of a misconceived joint venture with France in 1956 to prevent Egypt from nationalising the Suez canal. It had to pull out because the pound was collapsing and the Eisenhower government refused to support it.
This prominent liberal British journo thought that the Israeli involvement in the tripartite invasion of Egypt was something his younger readers didn't need to know.