Suez Canal, Arab. Qanat as Suways, waterway of Egypt extending from Port Said to Port Tawfiq (near Suez) and connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez and thence with the Red Sea. The canal is somewhat more than 100 mi (160 km) long. Proceeding S from Port Said, it runs in an almost undeviating straight line to Lake Timsah. From there a cutting leads to the Bitter Lakes (now one body of water), and a final cutting then reaches the Gulf of Suez. The canal has no locks and can accommodate all but the largest ships.

The desirability of a water connection between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea was long appreciated in antiquity. A canal was built in the 20th or 19th cent. B.C. to Lake Timsah (then the northern end of the Red Sea). Xerxes I had the canal extended. It was restored several times (notably by Ptolemy II and Trajan) until the 8th cent. A.D., when it was closed and fell into disrepair.

The modern canal was planned by the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, who also supervised construction (1859–69). Great Britain, which had opposed the construction of the canal, became the largest shareholder in 1875 by purchasing the interest of the Egyptian khedive. The Convention of Constantinople signed in 1888 by all major European powers of the time declared the canal neutral and guaranteed free passage to all in time of peace and war. Great Britain was the guarantor of the neutrality of the canal; management was placed in the hands of the Suez Canal Company.

Under the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, which made Egypt virtually independent, Britain reserved rights for the protection of the canal, but after World War II, Egypt pressed for evacuation of British troops from the area. Egypt in 1951 repudiated the 1936 treaty, and anti-British rioting and clashes on the border of the zone erupted. In 1954, Britain agreed to withdraw, and in June, 1956, the British completed their evacuation of armed forces from Egypt and the canal zone.

After Great Britain and the United States withdrew their pledges of financial support to help Egypt build the Aswan High Dam (see under Aswan), Egyptian President Gamal Abdal Nasser nationalized (July, 1956) the Suez Canal and set up the Egyptian Canal Authority to replace the existing privately owned company. In August, British oil and embassy officials were expelled from the country. Having been denied passage through the canal since 1950 and having suffered repeated border raids from Egypt, Israel, with French and English air support, invaded Egyptian territory on Oct. 29, 1956. Within a few days France and Great Britain sent armed forces to retake the Suez Canal. Intervention by the United Nations brought an armistice in early November, and a UN emergency force replaced the British and French troops. The canal, blocked for more than six months because of damage and sunken ships, was cleared with UN help and reopened in Apr., 1957. Egypt agreed to pay, in six annual installments, approximately $81 million to shareholders of the nationalized Suez Canal Company; final payment was made on Jan. 1, 1963.

Despite UN efforts to guarantee the free passage of vessels through the canal, Egypt prevented Israeli ships from using the waterway. The canal was closed by Egypt during the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, after which it formed part of the boundary between Egypt and the Israeli-occupied Sinai peninsula. Egypt lost considerable revenue as a result of the closing of the canal, but friendly Arab countries agreed to subsidize the Egyptian economy with contributions roughly equaling the former income from the canal. After the Suez Canal was closed, many ships (especially tankers) were built that were too large for the canal, and alternate sea routes were used increasingly in world trade.

In Oct., 1973, Egyptian troops crossed the canal and attacked Israeli forces on the east bank of the canal; Israeli units crossed the canal to the west and eventually encircled the Egyptian Third Army. In early 1974, Egypt and Israel signed an agreement that led to Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai. With both banks of the canal again secured, Egypt, with the assistance of the U.S. navy, cleared it of mines and war wreckage, and it was reopened in 1975. Traffic declined in the 1980s, largely because of high fees and water too shallow for oil supertankers. In 1997 officials announced fee reductions and a plan to deepen the channel.

Bibliography

See D. A. Farnie, East and West of Suez: The Suez Canal in History, 1854–1956 (1969); K. Love, Suez, the Twice-Fought War (1969); A. G. Mezerik, ed., The Suez Canal 1956 Crisis–1967 War (1969); M. H. Heikal, Cutting the Lion’s Tail: Suez through Egyptian Eyes (1987); D. Neff, Warriors at Suez (1987); Z. Karabell, Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal (2003).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press.

 Suez Canal -Chronological History

13th century BCE: A canal is constructed between the delta of the Nile and the Red Sea. For the following centuries, the canal was only partially maintained.
8th century CE: The canal is no longer maintained, and soon becomes unnavigable.
1854: By a French initiative, the viceroy of Egypt, Said Pasha, decides for the project of building a canal that would connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
1858: La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez is formed to construct the canal. The company, which was owned by both French and Egyptian interests, should both build the canal, and administer it for the following 99 years. After this time, the ownership would pass over to the Egyptian government.
1859 April 25: Constructions begin.
1869 November 17: With great splendour, the canal is opened for navigation. Dimensions were 22 meter in bottom width, 58 meter in surface width, and a depth of 8 meters.

 1875: The British government buys the Egyptian stocks.
1888: By an international convention, the canal is opened for ships of all nations.
1936: Through a treaty the British receives rights to keep military forces in the canal zone.
1948: Egyptian authorities introduce regulations against the use of the canal by vessels serving Israeli ports.
1954: Agreement between Egypt and Britain that provides for British withdrawal within the following 7 years.

1956 June: As all British troops have left, Egyptian military moves into British installations.
July 26: Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal.
October 31: France and Britain attacks Egypt, under the pretext that they want to open up the Canal for all vessels. Egypt answers with sinking the 40 ships that are inside the canal at the moment.

 1957 March: Reopening of the canal, following UN actions to remove the sunk ships.
1962: All original shareholders are paid off.
1967 June 5: In conjunction with the Six-Day War, Egypt closes the canal.
1975 June 5: Reopening of the canal.
— Vessels carrying non-military goods to and from Israel are allowed to pass through the canal.
1979: Unrestricted use for Israel is secured with the peace agreement between the two countries.

 (Encyclopaedia of the Orient)

 Six-Day War

War fought in 1967 between Israel on one side and Egypt, Jordan and Syria on the other side.

The active Arab states received aid from Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Algeria. From its beginning to the end, the war lasted 132 hours and 30 minutes (less than 6 days). But the duration was shorter on 2 of the 3 fronts: on the Egyptian side only 4 days, and on the Jordanian side only 3 days. It was only on the Syrian side that the war lasted the whole 6 days.
The war could have lasted longer than it did, and the result could have been different and less humiliating for the Arabs, as their the power of their armies was far from depleted. But there were mainly 2 reasons why the Arab nations gave in: 1. The lost territories held relatively few inhabitants (as was the case with Sinai for Egypt and Golan Heights for Syria) or was occupied territory (as was the case with Gaza Strip for Egypt and West Bank for Jordan). 2. The capitals of each of the three countries were threatened (Israeli troops were less than 100 km from Cairo and less than 50 km from Damascus and Amman).
The war was the most dramatic of all wars fought between Israel and the Arab nations, resulting in a depression in the Arab world lasting many years, changing the mentalities and political orientations among the people, as well as resulting in increased tensions between the Arab countries and the Western world. While the actual material and human losses were dramatic enough, Arab weakness in this war compared to Israeli efficiency will probably not be forgot for still many decades to come.
The war left Israel with the largest territorial gains from any of the wars the country had been involved in: Sinai and Gaza Strip were captured from Egypt, East Jerusalem and West Bank from Jordan and Golan Heights from Syria.
For the international society the war resulted in a closure of the Suez Canal for 8 years, resulting in increase of freight prices in international trade.
The war would be followed by the War of Attrition (1968-1970).

History

1967 May: Forces on both Arab and Israeli sides of the borders are mobilized.
June 5: Israel attacks Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Israel achieved great victories immediately, especially on the Egyptian front, where Egyptian air crafts are wiped out after effective bombing of air strips.
June 7: The strategically important Egyptian Sharm el-Sheikh is captured.
— Jordan surrenders to Israel, after having lost East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
June 8: The entire Sinai comes under Israeli control. Later that evening, Israeli fights on the Egyptian front cease.
June 10: Syria surrenders, after seeing Golan Heights come under Israeli control.
1973 October: The Yom Kippur comes as a reaction to the territorial losses and the humiliation of the Six-Day War.
1979 March 26: Camp David Agreement signed between Egypt and Israel. Israeli withdrawal from Sinai starts, and goes on for the next 3 years. The second part of the agreement, which dealt with autonomy for the Palestinians on Gaza Strip and the West Bank, is never observed from Israeli side.

By Tore Kjeilen