Gamal Abd al‐Nasser and an example of diplomatic acumen

Abstract

Gamal Abd al-Nasser has been praised at times and criticized on other occasions for a succession of diplomatic successes and failures throughout his tenure in power in Egypt. One incident in which he displayed his diplomatic acumen has gone virtually unnoticed in the annals of postSecond World War Egyptian history. The 'incident' was the AmericanSyrian crisis of 1957, when an American-engineered plot to overthrow what the Eisenhower administration perceived to be a burgeoning proSoviet regime in Syria was uncovered, initiating a regional crisis that quickly evolved into an international crisis. Nasser effectively countered the diplomatic manoeuverings of Saudi Arabia's King Saud in the latter's attempt to use the crisis as a vehicle that would vault him into leadership of the Arab world, at Nasser's expense. The objectives of Nasser's machinations in this complex diplomatic game were to trump Saud, maintain Syria's bent toward Egypt, improve the position of pro-Nasser elements within Syria, and prevent Syria from embracing the Soviet Union as its sole patron. He was successful in each case, in the process amply displaying the limitations of Saudi Arabia (and King Saud) in the inter-Arab arena and the considerable wherewithal of Egypt at this time to influence events at the regional and international levels. Indeed, despite the fact that the Eisenhower Doctrine was designed to 'rollback' Nasserism, the United States was forced to seek a modus vivendi with Egypt in the latter stages of the American-Syrian crisis. The regional dynamics of the incident, particularly Nasser's actions, significantly affected the course of the crisis itself. On a methodological level, the results of this examination support the adoption of an increased emphasis on the regional level of activity when analysing various events and relationships in the Middle East. Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz, the King of Saudi Arabia, must have felt pleased with himself on the morning of 13 October 1957. He was in Beirut preparing to preside over some athletic events, confident that he had in fact achieved his objective of leapfrogging Egypt's President Gamal Abd al-Nasser in becoming the putative leader of the Arab world. Saud was riding high following what appeared to be his successful mediation of the American-Syrian crisis of 1957 and his outmanoeuvering of Nasser in