12A 1956 Egypt ‘Nationalizes’ Vital Suez Canal ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, July 26 (UP) - Egypt seized the Suez Canal Thursday night and announced the $90 million annual income from the vital waterway would be used to finance the Aswan Dam. President Gamal Abdel Nasser declared the western-controlled canal “nationalized.” Police immediately took over the Cairo office of the Suez Canal Co., which operates the lifeline between East and West. Naval units already were in position at both ends of the canal. In a bristling anti-western speech, Nasser declared “The Suez Canal belongs to Egypt.” The canal is now owned by a nominally private company with headquarters in Paris. The British government is the biggest stockholder in the company. Nasser declared the Suez Canal Co. nationalized immediately as an Egypt joint stock company. It was his answer to the Anglo-American withdrawal of aid for the Aswan Dam. British troops last month completed their withdrawal of the protective zone around the canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. In his speech, delivered before 300,000 shouting Egyptians celebrating the fourth anniversary of the revolution ousting former King Farouk, the president also: 1. Revealed for the first time that last year’s Communist arms deal was “with Russia, not Czechoslovakia.” 2. Claimed that he threatened to “throw” an assistant U.S. secretary of state “out of my office” if he protested the arms deal. 3. Disclosed Russia offered aid for the Aswan Dam project last December. 4. Declared the Arabs will build “one nation” from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. The news of the canal’s seizure electrified Britain. British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden immediately consulted senior officials. LONDON, July 26 (AP) - Prime Minister Eden Thursday night called top American and French diplomats to his official residence for emergency talks on Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal. Reuters News Agency LONDON, July 26 - Egypt’s decision to nationalize the Suez Canal shocked government circles and directors of the company here Thursday night. Prime Minister Anthony Eden was given the news while playing host at dinner to King Faisal of Iraq at his official residence, Number 10 Downing Street. Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd also was immediately informed but a government spokesman said no official statement would be issued Thursday night. Diplomatic observers however expected Britain to reject the Egyptian move strongly as a flagrant violation of international law. Scanning World News Scenes