At the height of the Suez canal crisis in November 1956, as Israeli troops enter the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Anthony Eden urges the United Nations to act quickly to resolve the conflict. The UN responds by proposing the creation of its first peace-keeping force.
Read the transcript for the film below:
Newsreader:
Israeli contingents slogged through the Sinai desert in the direction of the Suez Canal in an operation that eventually subjugated the area and mopped up nests of fedayeen commandos, whose raids precipitated the Israeli invasion. The Gaza Strip, long a source of friction, now is the road to Egypt. On the sea, an Egyptian destroyer is captured and towed into the port of Haifa after a short fight off the coast. And on the diplomatic front, Anthony Eden gives England’s views.
Anthony Eden:
We’ve stepped in because the United Nations couldn’t do so in time. If the United Nations will take over this police action, we shall welcome it. Indeed, we propose that course to them. And police action means not only to end the fighting now but also to bring a lasting peace to an area which for ten years has lived or tried to live under the constant threat of war. Until a United Nations force is there, ready to take over, we and the French must go on with the job until the job is done.
Newsreader:
On the heels of Eden’s address, the General Assembly. Here is Canada’s proposal for a police force to resolve the crisis, a proposal overwhelmingly adopted in the face of a desperate situation.
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