420. Editorial Note

At 4:45 p.m. in London (11:45 a.m. in Washington), Aldrich and Barbour were called to the British Foreign Office where at approximately 5 p.m. they were handed copies of ultimatums from the Governments of Great Britain and France to the Governments of Egypt and Israel, which had been delivered to Egypt and Israel at 4:30 p.m. Meanwhile, in a statement to the House of Commons, which began at 4:30 p.m., Prime Minister Eden reviewed the events preceding the outbreak of hostilities, noted that Great Britain had discussed the situation with the United States, and advised the Commons that unless hostilities could be stopped quickly, free passage through the Suez Canal would be jeopardized. Eden then informed the Commons that, in order to bring hostilities to a quick halt, the British and French Governments had addressed urgent communications to the Governments of Egypt and Israel, calling on both sides to stop all warlike action and withdraw their military forces to a distance of 10 miles from the Canal. Also, the Government of Egypt had been requested to agree that Anglo-French forces should move temporarily into key positions at Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez, in order to separate belligerents and guarantee freedom of transit through the Canal by ships of all nations. Eden explained that the Egyptian and Israeli Governments had been given 12 hours (until 6:30 a.m. Cairo time on October 31) to answer the communication; and that it had been made clear to them that, if at the expiration of that time, one or both had not undertaken to comply with these requirements, British and French forces would intervene [Page 856] in whatever strength might be necessary to secure compliance. (House of Commons, Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, volume 558, columns 1273–1275) The Embassy in London transmitted the text of Eden’s statement and the texts of the Anglo-French notes to Israel and Egypt to the Department of State in telegrams 2357, 2359, and 2360, respectively, October 30, all in Department of State, Central Files, 674.84A/10–3056; see also telegram 2383 from London, October 31; ibid., 674.84A/10–3156. The text of the Anglo-French ultimatum is printed in D.C. Watt (ed.), Documents on the Suez Crisis (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1957), pages 85–86. A translation of Mollet’s speech to the French Assembly made the same day, as well as the text of Eden’s speech to Parliament are printed in United States Policy in the Middle East, September 1956–June 1957, pages 138–142.