ABSTRACT
Following the 1956 Sinai Campaign, and especially since 1959, a deterioration set in in relation to all facets of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the ‘Palestinian problem’ became the focal point of inter-Arab relations in general, and of Nasser's foreign policy in particular. The year 1959 may be considered the turning point of the Palestinian problem, inter alia, because of the heightened tension between the Arab world and Israel brought about by Israel's plan to channel the River Jordan's water into a National Water Carrier (NWC). Israel's water diversion project now became the foremost issue on the Arab agenda in its struggle against Israel, and for the first time since 1948 to define an Arab strategy towards the conflict.
