Summary
The sending of the small Israeli-flagged ship Bat Galim to the Suez Canal in September 1954 and its detention by Egypt on 26/9/54; Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace argues the ship was sent in the expectation of detention, to arouse British public opinion against ratifying the Anglo-Egyptian evacuation agreement — “a gift from heaven” to all who wanted Britain to remain in Suez (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.199-201, p.232).
Details
- Background: Egypt had barred Israeli ships from the Canal since the War of Independence, despite the Security Council’s order of 1 September 1951 to lift the closure, and Britain, which then controlled the Canal and kept a large force in its bases, “made no effort to ensure free maritime passage” (PDF p.199).
- Israeli policy was to oppose the evacuation of British forces from the Canal Zone — a position even staunch Western partisans such as George Flash questioned in the Knesset (4/2/52; 14/6/53 [sittings as printed]), Flash distinguishing passage, Israel’s primary interest, from the base: “there is a base, but there is still no free passage” (PDF p.200-201).
- The evacuation agreement was initialled on 27/7/54; British ratification met intense Conservative backbench opposition. The Bat Galim was sent at that very time; British journalists seized on its detention (26/9/54) to argue control of the Canal should not pass to Egypt — hypocrisy, the authors note, since there had been no freedom of navigation for Israel throughout British control (PDF p.201).
- The pretext failed: the agreement was signed less than three weeks after the detention, with final evacuation set for 1956 (PDF p.201).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Gaza raid (1955), Baghdad Pact, Watchdog state