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Revision as of 15:58, 8 November 2007

Palestinian Fedayeen (from the Arabic fidā'ī, plural fidā'īyun, فدائيون: "one who is ready to sacrifice his life") refers to the guerillas drawn from Palestinian refugees which engaged in a campaign of infiltrations, bombings, and murders in Israel, killing or wounding 1,300 Israelis between 1949 and 1956, and which continued until the late 1970s. Fedayeen were based in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Syria, and while they were generally supported by those governments, in some cases they came into conflict with them.[1]

Involvement of President Nasser and Egyptian intelligence

President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918 - 1970) openly deployed forces whom he called "Fedayeen" in a 1955 call to arms against Israel:

Egypt has decided to dispatch her heroes, the disciples of Pharaoh and the sons of Islam and they will cleanse the land of Palestine....There will be no peace on Israel's border because we demand vengeance, and vengeance is Israel's death.[2]

Scholars have noted that the Fedayeen were trained and equipped by Egyptian Intelligence to engage in hostile action on its border with Israel, to infiltrate it and to to commit acts of sabotage and murder. The Fedayeen also operated from bases in Jordan. The attacks violated the 1949 Armistice Agreements prohibiting hostilities by paramilitary forces, but it was Israel that was condemned by the UN Security Council for its counterattacks.[3][4][5]

Fedayeen attacks in the 1950s

Israel's complaint that the fedayeen attacks violated the 1949 UN Armistice Agreement forbidding hostilities by paramilitary forces were ignored. During 1951-1956, hundreds of fedayeen attacks were carried out against Israelis and over 400 were killed and 900 wounded seriously.

From 1950 the attacks became much more violent and included deaths of Israeli citizens in nearby cities. The Israeli government cites dozens of these attacks as "Major Arab Terrorist Attacks against Israelis prior to the 1967 Six-Day War". [6] [7] Between 1949 and 1956, 400 Israelis were killed and 900 wounded by fedayeen attacks. [8] In 1955, 260 Israeli citizens were killed or wounded by fedayeen". [9]

The calculated acts of fedayeen terror, supported by the Arab countries, contributed eventually to the outbreak of the Sinai Campaign.[10][11]

Israel establishes Unit 101

Main article: Unit 101

In 1953, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion created Unit 101, to retaliate against a spate of Arab fedayeen violence against Israelis. Its commander was Major Ariel Sharon. Unit 101 was disbanded in late 1955.

Continuation

Even after the attacks against Egypt by France, the United Kingdom and Israel during the 1956 Suez Crisis, Egypt under President Nasser continued supporting Fedayeen insurrections among Palestinianss against Israel: Nasser encouraged Fedayeen, or Palestinian guerrilla attacks on Israel from the Gaza strip and elsewhere. At this point it became part of the origin of the PLO in 1964 as the Fedayeen/PLO declared their intent to eradicate Israel. [12]

After 1967

See also

References

  1. ^ Howard Sachar, History of Israel, p. 450. cited at "Fedayeen Raids 1951 -1956". jafi.org.
  2. ^ "Fedayeen". jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
  3. ^ "Fedayeen". jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
  4. ^ Martin Gilbert (2005). The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 0415359015.
  5. ^ Lela Gilbert (October 23, 2007). "An 'infidel' in Israel". The Jerusalem Post. t.-Gen. Mustafa Hafez, was appointed by president Gamal Abdel Nasser to command Egyptian army intelligence. Hafez founded Palestinian fedayeen units to launch terrorist raids across Israel's southern border. Between 1951 and 1956, the fedayeen killed some 400 Israelis. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Major terror attacks". mfa.gov.il.
  7. ^ "Palestinina terror". mfa.gov.il.
  8. ^ "Map". jafi.org.
  9. ^ "Record". adl.org.
  10. ^ Benny Morris (1993). Israel's Border Wars, 1949-1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198292627.
  11. ^ "What happened during the period of the fedayeen attacks on Israel in the 1950s?". palestinefacts.org.
  12. ^ "The Cold War: International Rivalry Promotes Conflict". www.bc.edu.


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