[Alberta's Child]

Yet during the Six Day War of 1967 the Egyptians sunk several vessels to block the canal till Israel and Egypt signed the Camp David Accords.

I'm wondering if your calendar is off by a few years here. Are you suggesting that the Suez Canal was closed from 1967 until the Camp David Accords were signed in 1976?

BTW, the desire of the U.S. to maintain free passage through the Suez was precisely what made us insist that Israel hand the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt in 1976. In fact, I've read several unsubstantiated accounts indicating that Henry Kissinger prodded Egypt to invade the Sinai in 1973 specifically to set in motion the process that would remove the Sinai from Israel's hands and make sure the Suez Canal no longer served as a border between two hostile nations.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I may have been off a few years...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Canal

After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, also called the Six Day War, the canal was closed by an Egyptian blockade until 5 June 1975. As a result, fourteen cargo ships known as “The Yellow Fleet” remained trapped in the canal for over eight years.

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0015494.html

. It was opened in 1869, nationalized in 1956, blocked by Egypt during the Arab-Israeli War in 1967, and not reopened until 1975.