Second World War, and by Egypt to justify prohibiting Israeli shipping in the Canal after the onset of the formal state of war between the two states in 1948. The British government accepted the treaty reluctantly, and only with serious reservations: The delegates of Great Britain, in offering this text as the definitive rule to secure the free use of the Suez Canal, believe it is their duty to announce a general reservation as to the applicability of its provisions in so far as they are incompatible with the transitory and exceptional state in which Egypt is actually found and so far as they might fetter the liberty of action of the government during the occupation of Egypt by the British forces. France accepted the reservation but, in accordance with international law at the time, noted that this made the treaty a "technically inoperative" "academic declaration." The reservation was not removed until the Entente Cordiale between the United Kingdom and France, with the Convention finally coming into force in 1904. The Entente Cordiale stipulated that the functioning of the international supervisory commission described in article 8 would "remain in abeyance." However, for the next 40 years, British actions would largely be in the spirit of the abandoned reservation. On 5 August 1914, at the beginning of the First World War, Egypt under the nationalist Khedive Abbas Hilmi II declared that the Canal would be open to ships of all nations. However, the United Kingdom subsequently deposed Abbas, replacing him with his uncle, Hussein Kamel, and declaring the re-establishment of the Sultanate of Egypt as a British protectorate. Thereafter, Britain barred Canal access to ships of the Central Powers for the duration of the war. Citing the security of the Canal, Britain attempted to maintain its prerogatives in unilateral declarations. On June 5, 1967, during the Six-Day War, Egypt closed and blockaded the Canal against Israel. The Canal remained blocked and closed through the subsequent War of Attrition of 1968 to 1970, and October War of 1973. The waterway was eventually re-opened on 10 June, 1975. The 14-state Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) currently oversees the terms of the peace treaty over the Canal, which is owned and maintained by the Suez Canal Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt. According to the international rules which govern navigation through the Suez Canal, Egypt cannot forbid any vessel from passing through the