ABSTRACT
The nationalization of the Suez Canal Company on 26 July 1956 symbolized for the Egyptians and the Arab world the independence of Egyptian decision-making and the liberation of Egypt from foreign political and economic influence. Sayyid Mar’i, then Minister for Agrarian Reform, wrote in his memoirs: ‘The nationalization gave rise to a feeling of euphoria. It was as if Egypt, in this manner, settled a long account which had accumulated over 70 years.’1 Abu Iyyad (Salah Khalaf), a leader and founder of Fatah who then resided in Egypt, well expressed the reaction of the Arab world by writing,
Nasser has now become the leader of the struggle against imperialism. The daring of the act and the challenge it posed to England and France made a strong and deep impression on all the Arabs. Nasser restored to the Arabs and to all the peoples of the Third World their honour and selfconfidence. Everything is now possible, even the liberation of Filastin.2
