Fatah led Fedayeen Militants Marching In Beirut

The conflict began with Arabs crossing the border from Gaza into Israel. This number reacehd 90,000 Arabs that had crossed the border. The actions of these infiltrators who once crossed borders for economic reasons developed into violent robberies and intentional terrorist attacks as they blended in with the Israeli citizenry. These attacks evolved into ones launched from Syria and Jordanian Territory.

Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion commanded the security chief, Ariel Sharon, to set up a new commando unit which would be known as Unit 101. This unit was designed to respond to the Fedayeen infiltrations. Unit 101 penetrated the Gaza Strip with armed forces and held the Arab leaders in Gaza responsible for the attacks on Israel. Cross-border operations were also conducted in Egypt and Jordan. The idea behind these militant actions was to protect Israel by threatening the safety of the Arabs living in the border communities outside of Israel and ultimately halt Fedayeen infiltration. The point of Unit 101's mission was to prove that the “price for Jewish blood is high.”

In 1952, the Palestinian border police were created by the Egyptian government since Egypt was prohibited under the agreement with the United Nations to deploy its own troops in the Gaza strip. Over the next year, the Palestinian border police became stronger and attracted many volunteers. The Egyptian government established formal Fedayeen groups in Gaza. The goal of these groups was to launch terrorist raids across Israel against its civilians. Nearly 3000 incidents of infiltrations and attacks occurred along the Gaza border all Arab in origin. Israel retaliated by entering the Gaza border and raiding refugee camps. It is estimated that by the end of this conflict, in 1955, over 1000 Israelis were killed.

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