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and, according to Bahrain’s annual report for the year 1956, ‘few people knew what

it was about except that it was ordered from Egypt’. 818 The North African

nationalists the strike was organised for were likely to be headed by the Algerian

resistance leader Ahmed bin Bella (one of the founders of the FLN), who was

arrested along with four others when the French intercepted his plane as he flew

from Morocco to Tunisia on 22 October. 819 Al-Bakir confessed in his memoir that

the strike had become violent in Muharraq and feared that violence might spread to

Manama. 820 It was surely a sign to Al-Bakir of things to come when the NUC once

again took the initiative to call for a strike.

Military operations against Egypt started on 29 October 1956 when Israel

invaded Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. In a short period of time the Israelis managed to

advance to within fifty miles of the Suez Canal. 821 A statement by Eden was made on

30 October in the House of Commons with the Prime Minister declaring that both

the British and French Governments had communicated to both the Israelis and

Egyptians ordering them to cease fire and withdraw ten miles from the Suez Canal.

Then, he said, Anglo-French military units would seize key positions throughout the

Canal in order to separate the warring factions and secure safe passage for all

ships. 822

818 ‘Government of Bahrain: Annual Report for Year 1956’, 1-111 (7).
819 T.F. Brady, ‘Seizure of Algerian Rebels Described by Correspondent on their Plane’, New York
Times, 24 October 1956, 1.
820 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 122.
821 ‘Israel Attack on Egypt’, The Times, 30 October 1956, 8.
822 ‘Statement by Sir Anthony Eden in the House of Commons on the Anglo-French communications
to Egypt and Israel on 30 October 1956’, in Documents of International Affairs 1956, ed. N. Frankland,
(London: 1959), 262-63.

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