Summary
The French Deputy Chief of Staff who, in Mordechai Bar-On’s account excerpted as Appendix 3 of Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, proposed on 15 October 1956 the pre-arranged “scenario” — an Israeli attack on Egypt followed by an Anglo-French intervention at the Canal — that became the Sèvres plan (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.517-519).
Details
- Challe attended the 23 June 1956 Vermars meeting between the French and Israeli defence establishments, chaired by Pierre Boursicot (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.517).
- Bar-On writes that by 15 October 1956 Challe’s “ripening” during two weeks of discussions with Israel bore fruit in “a “scenario”, produced and planned in advance, according to which Israel will launch an attack on Egypt in Sinai, by itself without any apparent connection to its allies. When its armies arrive at the Canal Zone the armies of Britain and France will enter and occupy the Canal on the pretence of separating between the warring sides and guaranteeing the peace and integrity of the Canal” (Etgar ve-tigra, p.239, quoted at Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.518-519).
- Eden “eagerly seized upon this idea” — the redeeming pretext he had sought for weeks, presentable not as anti-Egyptian aggression but as an international mission — and a secret meeting of the French and British prime ministers at the Palais Matignon was set for 16 October (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.519).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Operation Sinai, Mordechai Bar-On, Pierre Boursicot, Anthony Eden