Egyptian Fedayeen Attacks
(Summer 1955)
In 1955, Nasser began to import arms from the
Soviet Bloc to build his arsenal for the confrontation with Israel.
In the short-term, however, he employed a new tactic to prosecute
Egypt's war with Israel. He announced it on August 31, 1955:
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.
These "heroes" were Arab terrorists, or fedayeen ("one who sacrifices himself"), trained and equipped by
Egyptian Intelligence to engage in hostile action on the border and
infiltrate Israel to commit acts of sabotage and murder. The fedayeen
operated mainly from bases in Jordan, so that Jordan would bear the
brunt of Israel's retaliation, which inevitably followed. The
terrorist attacks violated the armistice agreement provision that
prohibited the initiation of hostilities by paramilitary forces;
nevertheless, it was Israel that was condemned by the UN Security
Council for its counterattacks.
Sources: Bard, Mitchell G. The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Middle East Conflicts. NY:
MacMillan, 1999. Map from The
Pedagogic Center, The Department for Jewish Zionist Education, The
Jewish Agency for Israel, (c) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, Director:
Dr. Motti Friedman, Webmaster: Esther Carciente |
