The first United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF) was established by United Nations General Assembly to secure an end to the 1956 Suez Crisis with resolution 1001 (ES-I) on November 7, 1956, and in large measure as a result of efforts by secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld and a proposal from Canadian minister of external affairs Lester Bowles Pearson. The first UN military force of its kind, its mission was to: United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. ... HM Ships Eagle, Bulwark, and Albion of the British Royal Navy. ... November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 54 days remaining. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday. ... Order: 2nd Secretary-General Term of Office: April 10, 1953– September 18, 1961 Predecessor: Trygve Lie Successor: U Thant Born: July 29, 1905 Place of birth: Jönköping, Sweden Died: September 18, 1961 Place of death: Ndola, Northern Rhodesia Dag Hammarskjöld  listen? ( July 29, 1905 – September 18, 1961) was a Swedish... The Right Honourable Lester Bowles Mike Pearson PC,CC,OM (April 23, 1897 - December 27, 1972) was the fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada from April 22, 1963, to April 20, 1968, and also a 1957 Nobel Laureate. ...

... enter Egyptian territory with the consent of the Egyptian Government, in order to help maintain quiet during and after the withdrawal of non-Egyptian forces and to secure compliance with the other terms established in the resolution ... to cover an area extending roughly from the Suez Canal to the Armistice Demarcation Lines established in the Armistice Agreement between Egypt and Israel.

Since the operative UN resolutions were not passed under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the deployment of a military force had to be approved by Egypt. After multilateral negotiations with Egypt ten countries offered to contribute to the force: Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, India, Indonesia, Norway, Sweden, and Yugoslavia. Support was also provided by United States, Italy, and Switzerland. The first forces arrived in Cairo on November 15, and UNEF was at its full force of 6,000 was fully by February of 1957. The force was fully deployed in designated areas around the canal, in the Sinai and Gaza when Israel withdrew its last forces from Rafah on March 8, 1957. The UN secretary general sought to station UNEF forces on the Israeli side of the 1949 armistice lines, but this was rejected by Israel. The United Nations Charter is the constitution of the United Nations. ... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in all south Slavic languages) is a term used for three separate but successive political entities that existed during most of the 20th century on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. ... November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 The Sinai Peninsula (in Arabic, Shibh Jazirat Sina) is a triangle-shaped peninsula lying between the Mediterranean Sea (to the north) and Red Sea (to the south). ... The city of Gaza is the principal city in the Gaza Strip. ... Rafah (Arabic: رفح Hebrew: רפיח) is a town in the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian border, and a nearby town on the Egyptian side of the border, on the Sinai Peninsula. ... March 8 is the 67th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (68th in Leap years). ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The mission was directed to accomplish its mission in four phases:

1. In November and December of 1956, the force facilitated the orderly transition in the Suez Canal area when British and French forces left.
2. From December of 1956 to March of 1957, the force facilitated the separation of Israeli and Egyptian forces and the Israeli evacuation from all areas captured during the war, except Gaza and Sharm-el-Sheik.
3. In March of 1957, the force facilitated the departure of Israeli forces from Gaza and Sharm-el-Sheik.
4. Deployment along the borders for purposes of observation. This phase ended in May of 1967.

Due to financial constraints and changing needs, the force shrank through the years to 3,378 by the time its mission ended in May of 1967. 1881 drawing of the Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( Arabic, Qanā al-Suways), west of the Sinai Peninsula, forms a 163  km (118 miles) ship canal in Egypt between Port Said (Būr Saīd) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea. ... Sharm el-Sheikh is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, on the coastal strip between the Red Sea and Mount Sinai. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ...

On May 16, 1967 the Egyptian government ordered all United Nations forces out of Sinai effective immediately. Then secretary general U Thant tried to redeploy UNEF to areas within the Israeli side of the 1949 armistice lines to maintain buffer, but this was rejected by Israel. In a decision that proved to be controversial, Thant acted to effect the Egyptian order without consulting either the Security Council or the General Assembly. Most of the forces were evacuated by the end of May, but 15 UNEF forces were caught in combat operations and killed in the Six Day War. May 16 is the 136th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (137th in leap years). ... Order: 3rd Secretary-General Term of Office: November 30, 1962–December 31, 1971 (Acting Secretary-General from November 3, 1961 to November 30, 1962 Predecessor: Dag Hammarskjöld Successor: Kurt Waldheim Born: January 22, 1909 Place of birth: Pantanaw, Burma Died: November 25, 1974 Place of death: New York City, United... A session of the Security Council in progress The United Nations Security Council is the most powerful organ of the United Nations. ... The 1967 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War or June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. ...

External links

• United Nations history of UNEF (http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/co_mission/unefi.htm)