Economic history of the United Kingdom once the territories gained independence and were free to negotiate their own trade agreements. Although the '50s were overall a time of great prosperity for Britain, the Suez Crisis of November 1956 precipitated a financial crisis and a run on Sterling which underlined how fragile post-war British finances were. The tripartite invasion of the Suez Canal Zone by Britain, France and Israel following Egypt's nationalization of the canal (before then majority owned by the British government) was a disaster for British prestige and the economy. The United States and the United Nations came out firmly against the occupation, which caused
Golda Meir foreign rule; like them, we had to learn for ourselves how to reclaim the land, how to increase the yields of our crops, how to irrigate, how to raise poultry, how to live together, and how to defend ourselves." Israel could be a role model because it "had been forced to find solutions to the kinds of problems that large, wealthy, powerful states had never encountered". Meir's first months as Foreign Minister coincided with the Suez Crisis, which is also known as the Second Arab-Israeli War, the Tripartite aggression (in Arab countries), Sinai Campaign, and Operation Kadesh (by the Israeli