Algeria -

“The Arab reality today, with its crises, disagreements, divisions and frustrations, forces the Arab intellectual to recover his historical memory and recall the past, to regain his confidence in his present, to regain his pride in his past and his optimism for his future, to bring back to reality those bright images of solidarity, synergy and cohesion experienced by the Arab peoples and which enabled them to Achieving historical gains that changed the course of contemporary Arab history.

With this introduction, the great Algerian historian, Nasir al-Din Saidouni, begins his research on national support for the liberation revolution of his country (1954/1962), which shook the Arab conscience, and was an incentive for him to affirm the bonds of brotherhood and a sense of unity of destiny, until it became the cause of all Arabs.

On the 67th anniversary of its outbreak, coinciding with the first of November, we evoke images of national support for the Algerian people's revolution against French colonialism.

The solidarity of the Arab countries and their peoples appeared from the first moment of the revolution, with varying size and type in the field, because some of them were still living themselves under occupation or protection, while the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt had the most prominent role by ruling the neighborhood, as the researcher Ahmed bin Noaman records. , in his book "The Jihad of the Algerian People".

The foreign delegation of the Algerian revolution on a diplomatic mission in Egypt (private archive)

Cairo..the head of the revolution

Historians unanimously agree that the land of Kinana was the first and largest supporter of it, and from its broadcast the call of the first of November to the world was launched, and it was the most important source of material support with weapons and money, until France considered that the body of the revolution is in Algeria and its head is in Cairo, according to the description of the historian Bashir Mellah. .

The "Special Organization" coordinated during the period of preparation for the bombing of the revolution with President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and he is the only one who was informed in advance of the decision through the external delegation in Cairo.

He pledged to be with the revolution to the end, to provide it immediately with all possible light weapons, and to seek the Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia, to finance it with money.

He ordered Fathi El-Deeb and Izzat Suleiman to always be with the Algerian delegation, as his personal representatives, while the matter was kept secret by a number of his ministers.

Instructions were issued to the Egyptian military attaches, wherever they are, to be at the service of the Algerian movement, according to what was quoted verbatim by the Algerian Mujahid, Ahmed Tawfiq al-Madani, in his memoirs.

The value of the first arms shipment from Egypt amounted to 8,000 pounds, and the first arms deal from Eastern Europe was financed by Egypt with about one million dollars, while 75% of the Arab League aid, estimated at 12 million pounds annually, was Egyptian.

When the interim revolutionary government was established, Cairo played a key role in the Arab League to help it with 12 billion old French francs, and by a decision of Abdel Nasser, Egypt allocated to it the first revenues from the nationalization of the Suez Canal, about 3 billion old French francs.

And it threw its diplomatic weight in its support through international forums, to the point where Abdel Nasser threatened the Soviet President, Mikhail Khrushchev, with the strategic interests between the two countries at the time, if he accepted Charles de Gaulle's invitation to visit Algeria.

It also played an important role in supporting the Algerian revolution during the Bandung Conference (1955) of the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization, as it exerted pressure on France, and within the United Nations during the negotiation period, to confirm its full support for Algeria's independence.

An official and popular reception in honor of the head of the Algerian interim government in Cairo, with the participation of King Hassan II (private archive)

Rabat..the western back

On the other hand, the Moroccan sister formed the western backer of the Algerian revolution, as Rabat's ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmed Bala Frej, called early on to put an end to the confused massacres, stressing "the kingdom's rejection of the colonial claim that Algeria is an integral part of French soil."

On September 15, 1956, King Mohammed V delivered his speech in the border city of Oujda, in which he presented the suffering of the Algerian people, stressing the need to find a peaceful and just solution to the issue, as documented by the Moroccan Endowment magazine.

France responded quickly, one month after the hijacking of the Moroccan plane carrying the leaders of the revolution on its way to Tunisia, in the first air piracy operation in history. It also announced the freezing of all its ongoing negotiations with the Moroccan government.

But this did not deter Morocco from its position, as its workers launched a general strike in support of the revolution on January 31, 1957, and Moroccan women sent a message to the United Nations.

In February 1957, King Mohammed V received a delegation of the Liberation Front in Madrid, and assured him that “whatever the circumstances, he is with Algeria, its people and its revolution, the mujahid stands, not just the supporters, and that he is ready to supply it with anything,” according to Tawfiq Madani’s memoirs.

And the Moroccan government opened its borders to the Mujahideen, making its lands a field for their training, and its cities as background bases for the revolution, until it became the corridor for arms networks from Europe.

The Tangiers Conference, held on April 27, 1958, remains one of the most important stations of the common Maghreb struggle. It focused on supporting the Algerian cause and highlighting its Arab and international standing, in the presence of representatives of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

King Mohammed V ordered the closure of the two French consulates in the border cities of Oujda and Bouarfa, against the backdrop of the Algerian interim government's harassment of them.

The late Libyan King Idris Al-Senussi made Libya a logistical and political base for the Algerian revolution (Getty Images)

Tripoli..the weapon crossing

On the other hand, Tawfiq Madani mentions that the King of Libya, Idris Al-Senussi, ordered, upon meeting him in his palace, to pass the arms coming from Egypt across the Libyan land borders, so that its lands would be turned into a background, logistical and political base, weapons depots for the revolution, training centers and armament networks.

It also provided a special residence for the leadership of the Liberation Front, where it secured their movements without supervision or disturbance, according to the testimony of Tawfiq Madani.

And the first president of Algeria, Ahmed Ben Bella, revealed that the revolution was launched at its beginning with 400 pieces of Italian rifles that arrived secretly from Libya.

Historian Al-Taher Jabali asserts that the smuggling of weapons later from Egypt to Algeria, through the trucks of Libyan merchants, was carried out under the supervision of the Libyan government, and with coverage from it, on the orders of King Idris himself.

Libya also put pressure on the Turkish Prime Minister, Adnan Menderes, and persuaded him to provide modern weapons to the Algerian revolutionaries, under the cover of a war gift to Libya, to restore the relationship with the Arabs angry at Turkey's internationalist position.

After Mustafa Ahmed bin Halim resigned from the position of prime minister, in late May 1957, King Senussi sent him as ambassador to Paris to facilitate diplomatic mediation with France, as the man recorded in his book "Folded Pages of Libya's Political History."

He succeeded in persuading de Gaulle to release Ahmed Ben Bella and his historical companions, to provide an atmosphere of trust for the negotiations between the two sides, which was what took them to a "villa" in the suburb of "Chashby" next to Paris.

Libya hosted several crucial meetings and conferences for the work of the National Council of the Algerian Revolution.

On the popular level, the "Committee for the Support of the Algerian People" was formed, and its headquarters was in the home of the businessman, Al-Hadi Al-Mushahriqi, and it was responsible for collecting donations and advertising.

In the memoirs of the leaders of the revolution, Al-Mushairqi is considered her biggest Libyan friend. He put his hotels in Tripoli at their disposal, and where he held celebrity parties, to allocate their resources to support the Algerian jihad.

And when they warned him of the consequences of his stances, he responded with his immortal saying, "What will harm my death after the death of a million of my Algerian brothers?"

Ahmed bin Noaman states that the committee relied a lot on organizing the Algerian weeks, which lasted for two months, and witnessed Libyan brides donating their jewelry to the revolution.

In Tripoli, a committee to boycott France also appeared, which succeeded in pushing Libyan companies not to import French goods and spare parts from any country.

Mass demonstration in Tunisia in support of the Algerian revolution (Getty)

Tunisia..one front

For its part, Tunisia represented the eastern gateway for support and the introduction of military supplies. The Tunisian leader, Youssef Saleh, considered the independence of his country incomplete unless Algeria became independent, putting his former resistance fighters to the French occupation at the disposal of the Algerian revolution.

Mujahid Othman Saadi wrote, "We can say that a good number of Tunisian revolutionaries joined the ranks of the Algerian Liberation Army, and in the midst of the battle, Tunisian Mujahideen were martyred, and the rest continued to struggle with us."

On January 22, 1957, Tunisia formally pledged to transfer arms to the revolution under a bilateral agreement in Cairo.

It exempted from taxes and customs duties every commodity or equipment belonging to the interim Algerian government or its army, and made its banks a repository for financial donations, according to academic Ismail Dabash.

In retaliation for its position, France began destroying villages and carrying out brutal acts against Tunisians, most notably the events of Sakiet Sidi Youssef on February 7, 1958.

And on the importance of Arab support in strengthening the Algerian revolution, the researcher in its history, Ahmed bin Yaghzar, believes that the Arab regimes could only be on the side of the revolution, by adopting the demand for liberation, and diplomatic action at the regional and international levels, to attract global support for the Algerian cause.

There is no doubt that all this gave an important international impetus to the Algerian revolution, as he put it.

He says in a statement to Al Jazeera Net that it constituted a station to test the narrative of Arab solidarity and the discourse of the one nation, as its outbreak coincided with a clear tide of liberation from foreign occupation, and the Arab countries, with their peoples, elites, and regimes at that time, had a share of that.