<P> A second round of secret diplomacy by Anderson in February 1956 was equally unsuccessful . Nasser sometimes suggested during his talks with Anderson that he was interested in peace with Israel if only the Americans would supply him with unlimited quantities of military and economic aid . In case of Israeli acceptance to the return of the Palestinian refugees to Israel and to Egypt annexing the southern half of Israel, Egypt would not accept a peace settlement . The United States or the United Nations would have to present the Israeli acceptance to all Arabs as a basis for peace settlements . It is not clear if Nasser was sincerely interested in peace, or just merely saying what the Americans wanted to hear in the hope of obtaining American funding for the Aswan high dam and American weapons . The truth will likely never be known as Nasser was an intensely secretive man, who managed to hide his true opinions on most issues from both contemporaries and historians . However, the British historian P.J. Vatikitos noted that Nasser's determination to promote Egypt as the world's foremost anti-Zionist state as a way of reinforcing his claim to Arab leadership meant that peace was unlikely . </P> <P> Hasan Afif El - Hasan says that in 1955--1956 the American proposed Nasser to solve the Arab--Israeli conflict peacefully and in exchange to finance the High Dam on the Nile river, but Nasser rejected the offer because it would mean siding with the West (as opposed to remaining neutral) in the Cold War . Since the alternative to a peace agreement was a war with unpredictable consequences, Nasser's refusal to accept the proposal was irrational, according to el - Hasan . </P> <P> Nasser's response was the nationalization of the Suez Canal . On 26 July, in a speech in Alexandria, Nasser gave a riposte to Dulles . During his speech he deliberately pronounced the name of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the canal, a code - word for Egyptian forces to seize control of the canal and implement its nationalization . He announced that the Nationalization Law had been published, that all assets of the Suez Canal Company had been frozen, and that stockholders would be paid the price of their shares according to the day's closing price on the Paris Stock Exchange . That same day, Egypt closed the canal to Israeli shipping . Egypt also closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, in contravention of the Constantinople Convention of 1888 . Many argued that this was also a violation of the 1949 Armistice Agreements . </P> <P> According to the Egyptian historian Abd al - Azim Ramadan, the events leading up to the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, as well as other events during Nasser's rule, showed Nasser to be far from a rational, responsible leader . Ramadan notes Nasser's decision to nationalize the Suez Canal without political consultation as an example of his predilection for solitary decision - making . </P>

The egyptian leader who seized the suez canal was