Arab+Economic+Weapon


 * Arab Economic Weapon**

= During the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arab states were faced with internal upheaval and thus could do little except use powerful economic weapons against Israel, even though their population was forty times that of Israel and the Arab standing armies outnumbered Israel eight to one. Therefore, in January 1950, the Arabs imposed an economic boycott. This boycott continued to be strengthened by the closure of the Suez Canal to Israeli shipping and the removal to Tripoli, Lebanon, of the Haifa refinery by the Iran Petroleum Company. =