The shift toward communism
The image of the nationalization of the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956, and the subsequent Tripartite Aggression against Egypt on October 29 of the same year, mark a fundamental turning point in the contemporary history of Arab states. This shift involved taking the Palestine issue out of its original context and bringing it - and all Arab countries - into the arena of the Cold War between the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union, and the Western Bloc, led by the United States.
More significantly, that image of nationalization exposed Arab states to an enmity from the Western Bloc that they could not withstand without relying on the Eastern Bloc. Thus, from that point onward, Arab states began gravitating toward the Soviet Union.
This inclination provided communist parties within various Arab countries a rare opportunity to promote communist ideas among Arab populations. They exploited the position that the Tripartite Aggression allowed the Soviet Union to assume - as a defender of the Arab states and a reliable ally in facing their enemies.
After the aggression, the Arab countries were not without those who recognized the danger of communism to their nations, and opposed it through spoken and written words. However, the newfound friendship between Arab peoples and international communism made it easier for local communist advocates to gain sympathy for their cause, in ways they had not been able to achieve before.
