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Jamal Abdun Nasir
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Famous As |
Political
Leader Of Egypt |
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Born On |
15 January
1918 |
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Born In |
Asyout,
Egypt |
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Died On |
28 September
1970 |
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Nationality |
Egypt |
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Jamal
Abdul Nasir was the 22nd president of Egypt and one of the most
important figures in the modern world and Arab history who served
the country from 1956 until his death in 1970. Born to a post office
clerk, Jamal Abdul Nasir emerged as one of the powerful leaders of
the Arab countries and led the freedom struggle of Egypt against
British and also brought an end to the ruling monarchy establishing
democracy in Egypt but with only a single party rule. His popularity
increased after he protected the Suez Canal from the hands of
Britain and France. |
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Nasser was one of the founding fathers of the
Non-aligned movement. He has also served as the
second Secretary-general of the Non-Aligned
Movement and played a major role in the
Palestine Liberation Organization in 1964.
Nasser passed away on September 28, 1970, after
the defeat of Egypt in the "six-day war" with
Israel. |
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Childhood:
Jamal
Abdul Nasir was born on January 15, 1918 in the Egyptian city of
Banny Mur, southern Egypt. His father was a clerk in the local post
office. When he was eight years old Nasser's mother, Fahima Hamad,
passed away. His early education took place at Banny Mur's Quranic
School and then at Ras el Tin school in Alexandria. Nasser also
spent 10 years in Cairo, the capital of Egypt until he received his
high school diploma from “Nahda” school in 1937. Nasser had started
participating in political demonstrations while he was a young boy.
At his first demonstration, he was reportedly struck in the face by
a police baton and detained for two days. In March 1937, Nasser was
sent to the Military Academy of Egypt where he concentrated more on
the studies to become an army officer. During his training at the
Military College, Nasir met Abdul Hakim Amer and Anwar Sadat and
developed friendship. After the completion of his training, Nasser
was posted in Mankabad town. |
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Formation of
“Free Officers”:
In 1939, days before the
outbreak of Second World War, Nasir was posted in Sudan. Since Egypt
did not participate in the Second World War, the military had no
role to play in that. During the war, Nasir with the help of
Italians plotted to stage a coup. The plan was never executed, but
it gave Nasir the confidence to continue plotting a revolution. Few
days later, Nasir and one of his close associates, Anwar Sadat began
forming an organization of young military officers with strong
Egyptian nationalist feelings. It was during the Arab-Israeli War of
1948, when Nasir received his first opportunity to participate in
the battle. Nasir, showing an extra-ordinary skill of organizing
troops and tackling with the strategies of opponents, acquired the
area of Al- Faluja. Al-Faluja was an Arab village in the British
Mandate Palestine, located 30 kilometers northeast of
Gaza City. For his valiant efforts in the war, Nasir was promoted to
the post of an instructor in the Royal Military Academy. This was
the period; he intensified the search for brave military officers,
desperately waiting to participate in reformation movement. In 1949,
he finally succeeded to form such reformation group. The
organization came to be known as “Free Officers”. |
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Coup D'etat:
On 23 July 1952, the
personnel of “Free Officers” seized control of all government
buildings, media organizations and the army headquarters. The
revolution was aimed at overthrowing King Farouk-I and establishment
of a republic government. The coup, succeeded virtually without
bloodshed. Nasir installed General Muhammad Naguib, who played a
crucial role in the coup, as President. The organization appointed
Ali Maher, a long-time political leader, as Prime Minister. His task
would be to carry out the day-to-day administration of the country.
But, Maher could not continue as Prime Minister for long. On
September 7, 1952, he was forced to step-down after he refused to
support agrarian reform laws. Within few days, Naguib was appointed
as the new Prime Minister with full leadership. |
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Nasir as Prime
Minister:
In June 1953, Naguib
proclaimed the official abolition of the Egyptian monarchy and
establishment of the Republic of Egypt. He soon got hold of the
office of the President. Naguib’s activities as an autocrat
developed resentment in the Council. The situation deteriorated, so
the relationship between Naguib and Nasir. The differences
culminated and Naguib was forced to resign from his posts as both
President and Prime Minister. The Revolutionary Command Council
(earlier, Free Officers) declared Nasir as Prime Minister. Fearing
the chances of Naguib’s return to politics, the Council placed him
under house arrest The proceeding of Revolutionary Command Council
to overthrow Naguib was viewed by common people as illegal and
unacceptable. People from around the country began to stage
demonstration against the Council. Though initially, the Council did
not react at the uprising but feeling the heat outside for the
support of Naguib, the Council finally assured to address their
concern. This event created further trouble in the party with a
group of leaders refused to accept Naguib’s return. After several
sessions of discussions and negotiations the Council agreed to
reinstate Naguib. Few days after Naguib’s reinstatement as
President, the virtual faction of the Council led by Naguib pulled
Nasir down from the chair of Prime Minister. |
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Return to Power:
After
he was shown the door of the political fort, Nasir kept himself
engaged in organizing the “anti-Naguib elements”. On October 26,
1954, Nasir, while speaking at a rally, fortunately survived an
assassination bid. Nasser accused Naguib of establishing contacts
with British military and Brotherhood. He also made people believe
that the attempt to kill him was, in fact plotted by Naguib. This
created a huge uproar among the people against Naguib and his men in
the Council. In October 1954, taking advantage of the situation,
Nasir formally removed Naguib from power and proclaimed himself as
the leader of Egypt. |
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The new Charter:
On
January 16, 1955, the government announced a new charter to
establish republic and constitutional government. The new charter
included provision for more powers to the chair of the President of
the country. It also stated that the chief executive would be
elected for a period of six years and may be re-elected. The form of
“Plebiscite” would be followed in the election of the President.
Besides, the President would also enjoy the right to dissolve the
Assembly anytime and approve and veto new laws. The most important
amendment was brought by dissolving the old political parties. He
also imposed a ban on the formation of a new party. In other words,
it would be a single-party democracy. It declares Egypt to be a
sovereign Arab state with Islam as its religion and Arabic as the
official language of the country.
Later, another shocking change was made in 1956, when the Minister
of the Interior was given the power for a 10-year period to arrest
anybody charged with counter-revolutionary activity and to order his
confinement at administrative discretion. Though the rights of free
speech and free press were guaranteed under the new charter most of
the Egyptian publications continued to be controlled by the
government. On June 24, 1954, a plebiscite was held to ratify the
new constitution and was overwhelmingly approved. Nasser also
included some of the prominent civilians into his cabinet. |
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Suez Crisis:
A
major breakthrough Egypt received in 1954 was the removal of British
Army personnel from the “Suez Canal Zone”. It happened after Nasser
signed a treaty with the British government. The agreement not only
scripted the end of the prolonged tensions between Egypt and Britain
but also brought it closer to Britain and the United States of
America. Egypt was offered an economic aid of $40 million from them.
The United States also promised fifty-six million dollars, along
with two-hundred million dollars through the World Bank, to aid in
financing the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the river Nile.
The support and assistance from the USA was meant only to prevent
Egypt from looking at the Eastern Blocs. But, it failed as Egypt,
surprising the US and other western allies, signed the arms-treaty
with Czechoslovakia, which was a part of the Soviet led Eastern
Bloc. |
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Consequently, all the aids and support, earlier
promised by the US were immediately cancelled.
Reacting to the situation, Egypt, On July 26,
announced the decision of nationalizing the Suez
Canal. The proclamation provoked a strong
response from the West, particularly Britain and
France, which had major shareholdings of the
Suez Canal. The tension continued. Soviet,
adding fuel to the fire, announced its support
to Egypt. In an attempt to solve the crisis,
United Nations Security Council, in October,
adopted a resolution by recognizing Egypt’s
right to control the canal as long as it
continued to allow passage through it for
foreign ships. The
United Nation’s resolution annoyed both France and Britain as they
lost the situation and subsequently control over Suez Canal. They
both secretly drafted a plan to get back the authority over the
canal. To execute their plan, France and Britain approached Israel,
asking them to invade the Sinai Peninsula, near the Suez. And, on
the pretext of protecting the canal, combined forces of France and
Britain would capture the region. The reason for Israel to support
was to take revenge of the attack on them by Egyptian sponsored
terrorist.
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The plan was properly executed. No other country
except the trio had any idea about such plan and
motive. On October 29, Israeli forces moved into
the Sinai Peninsula, and on October 31, a joint
force from Britain and France entered into the
Canal Zone. Now the plan was not secret anymore.
Intelligence sources of the US and USSR
confirmed about the plan. The Premiers of both
America and Soviet Union urged the three nations
to withdraw their troops. On November 5, 1956,
the Soviet Union also issued an ultimatum to the
involved-countries demanding for an immediate
withdrawal of forces from Egypt. The US
threatened Britain of curtailing it economic
assistance if it did not comply. The three
forces, gradually started removing their troops
and the United Nations Emergency Force was
deployed. The situation became to be known as
the Suez Crisis. The
end of Suez Crisis saw the emergence of Jamal Abdul Nasir as the
powerful and popular leader of the Arab world. Nasser represented a
new, defiant era in Arabic politics. His popularity attracted the
other Arab leaders together and started building an Arab state to
confront the imperialist-forces of the West. |
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The leadership in almost all the Arabian
countries began to see the Western countries as
their enemy and pledged to retaliate
aggressively. The first step towards the
establishment of Pan Arab state was taken in
1958 when Syrian leaders requested Nasser for a
merger of Syria and Egypt. The merger led to
formation of the United Arab Republic. However,
the dream of Pan Arab state did not last longer.
In Syria, Egyptian bureaucrats and officers
started acting dictatorially and repressed the
opposition parties. The discontent among the
Syrian bourgeoisie and officer corps led to
secessionists and in 1961, the United Arab
Republic was formally dissolved. |
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Six Day War:
In
June, 1967, following the plans of Israel to attack Syria broke out,
Nasser sought for the equipments for war in the Sinai peninsula. He
also asked the United Nations to withdraw its Emergency Force from
Sinai. On May 23, Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran, through which
Israel had gained access to Israeli shipping. The Israeli port of
Eilat at the northern end of the Gulf of Aqaba was also blocked. It
was Israel's only access to the Indian Ocean. Responding strongly to
the closing of the Straits, Israel launched its aerial attack on the
Egyptian troops. This was the beginning of the Six Day War. The
first phase of aerial attacks by the Israeli air force was so severe
that it destroyed most of the Egyptian air forces on the ground.
Egypt with no delay issued an order asking the troops to come back.
The decision brought more disaster for the Egyptian troops as the
Israeli forces continued their attack even if there was no
retaliation from Egypt. The loss in the Six Day War was one of the
most disastrous political blows in Egyptian history and a
humiliation to the leaders and people of Egypt. |
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Death:
On
September 28, 1970 Jamal Abdul Nasir died of a heart attack. It was
believed that the humiliation of six day war and death of such a
huge number of soldiers in the war made him weak. Nasir was loved by
most of his countrymen and his popularity can be realized with the
fact that around seven million people gathered at the funeral
ceremony of Nasir. |
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