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"Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight."
Gamel Abdel Nasser,May 3oth 1967.
Egypt closes Gulf of Aqaba to Israel Ships
Defiant move by Nasser raises Middle East Tension
From The Times, 23rd May 1967
President Nasser announced last night that the United Arab Republic has
decided to close the Gulf of Aqaba - Israel's southern outlet to the sea
- to all ships flying Israel flags or carrying strategic materials.
Speaking to airmen at an advanced Air Force headquarters in Sinai, he said
all such ships woudl be forbidden to pass in and out of the Gulf past Sharm
El Skeikh at the mouth of the Gulf.
"We are now face to face with Israel and if they want to try their
luck without Britain and France, we await them," he said. "The
Israel flag will not pas through Aqaba Gulf and our sovereignty over the
Gulf entrance is not negotiable. If Israel wants to threaten us with war
they are welcome."
President Nasser also said that if the United States, Britain and Israel
had succeeded in keeping the UN peace force on the border against UAR wishes
"we would have disarmed the force and considered it as alien."
The Soviet Government and Communist Party Central Committee have sent a
message to President Nasser expressing their support for the UAR in the
crisis, the Middle East Information Agency announced.
The message pledged the Soviet Union's support for "the President and
people of the UAR and the other Arab nations in their struggle to defend
their countries and principles against imperialist conspiracies.