February 20, 1957
In a nationally televised radio and television address to the American people, President Dwight Eisenhower discusses the situation in the Middle East in the aftermath of the October 1956 Suez War. In his speech, the President emphasizes the need for Israel to abide by the United Nations resolutions regarding withdrawal from Sinai and the Gaza Strip. The address came at a time when friction was high between the U.S. and Israel as Israel sought rights and guarantees from the international community and especially the US prior to withdrawal.
In early November 1956, the U.N. General Assembly, with support from both the United States and USSR, passed a series of resolutions calling for a cease-fire and a withdrawal of troops from Sinai. Britain and France, who had planned and executed the October 1956 action together with Israel. would withdraw their forces in December 1956. Israel withdrew her troops from most of the territories, with the exception of the Gaza Strip and the area around the Straits of Tiran.
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sought assurances from the international community regarding freedom of navigation to the port of Eilat as well as ensuring a prevention of Egyptian military buildup in Gaza. Despite the fact that in November he had pledged a full Israeli withdrawal during a national radio address, both Ben-Gurion and the Knesset refused to authorize a complete withdrawal.
On February 11, 1957, just weeks after his second inauguration, Eisenhower delivered a memorandum to the government of Israel outlining U.S. policies once Israel agreed to withdraw. The memo was released to the public on Feb. 17. In his Feb. 20 radio and television address, Eisenhower says, “We are approaching a fateful moment when either we must recognize that the United Nations is unable to restore peace in this area, or the United Nations must renew with increased vigor its efforts to bring about Israeli withdrawal.”
The full transcript of the Eisenhower speech is available here. An audio excerpt of the address is available here.
Eisenhower’s strong stance results in several days of debate in the Knesset, as well as increased negotiations between Israel and the United States. On March 1, 1957, after receiving a guarantee from the United States to affirm Israel’s right of passage through the Straits of Tiran and a U.N. agreement to station U.N. emergency forces in Sinai, Israeli Foreign Minister Golda Meir announces at the United Nations that Israel will withdraw from all the territories.
In May 1967 those U.N. monitors are forced to withdraw by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, knowing that the winds of war are at hand. Nasser remilitarizes the Sinai, resulting in Israel’s decision to pre-emptively strike (the June 1967 war) Egyptian forces that threaten Israel and its oil supply routes to Eilat.
