228 A Short History of the Middle East
ness to open conversations; but before these could begin, violent
demonstrations of students and workers occurred in Cairo and
Alexandria, organized by the Wafd to embarrass the government
by demanding the immediate evacuation of British troops; serious
damage was done to the Anglican Cathedral and the Bishop's house
in Cairo. These riots, and British doubts about Nuqrashi's ability
to pilot the proposed negotiations through against the weight of
Wafdist opposition, led to his resignation in mid-February.
Sidqi Pasha, still at seventy-one years of age regarded as the
'strong man of Egypt' and the inveterate enemy of the Wafd,
succeeded him. When he began to form the delegation for the
negotiations with Britain, the Wafd, with little appreciation of the
extent to which it had been discredited by its corrupt and inefficient
last term of office, demanded the right as in 1936 to appoint the
chairman and the majority of the delegates. Sidqi offered them two
out of twelve places, which they refused; and the old man then
proceeded to form his delegation without them. The talks began
in Cairo on 23 April 1946; and on 7 May the Foreign Secretary an-
nounced Britain's intention to withdraw all her forces from
Egypt, provided that Egypt made satisfactory arrangements for
affording Britain the necessary assistance in time of war or the
imminent threat of war, in accordance with the Alliance, The
gesture did not, however, evoke a cordial response in Egypt: the
Egyptians hoped for the complete abolition of the Alliance, claim-
ing that it was inconsistent with the Charter of U.N.O. Regardless
of the fact that their geographical position makes them, like
Belgium, a cockpit of the nations whenever the peace of the Middle
East is disturbed, they hoped to keep out of the struggle with
Russia which they saw looming up, and which they feared might
be less profitable and more uncomfortable for Egypt thanthetwo
German wars had been. The Times commented: 'Some leaders of
Egyptian opinion are still remote from the outside world, and do
not understand the gravity of its problems, its general bad temper,
and the speed and power of modern methods of aggression. They
seem to believe . .. that the United Nations is a tap which, when
turned, pours out security/1 They thus consistently sought to
evade the British proposal (Art. 2) for a joint Anglo-Egyptian De-
fence Council to organize the defence of Egypt. In October Sidqi
travelled to London for personal talks with the Foreign Secretary
1 28 August 1946.