National Experiences - British Commission for Military History

160 ai r p o w e r in 20 t H Ce n t u ry do C t r i n e s a n d em p l o y m e n t - nat i o n a l ex p e r i e n C e s
The Arab refugees and their influence on events
Attacking anti-aircraft
missile batteries in
Egypt. During the last
phase of the war, all
the missile anti-aircraft
on the west bank of
the Canal had been
eliminated, both by air
force and ground
attacks.
During the War of Independence in 1948 thousands of Arabs fled their villages
in areas where there was fighting, hoping to return when the Israelis were defeated.
When this proved not to be the case, those Arabs became refugees, and instead of
being absorbed in the countries they fled to (as were a similar number of Jewish refugees
from the Arab countries), they were installed in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip,
in Jordan, both on the West Bank and in Jordan proper, and in Syria and Lebanon, to
be used as pawns in the power struggle between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
Both on their own initiative, and also with active backing from the Arab countries
they started to cross the border and to attack Israeli villages, transports, and carrying
out ambushes, causing extensive damage and much loss of life. Israel retaliated
with raids on the refugee camps which gradually increased in size and culminated
with the 1956 Sinai Campaign, which included the seizure of the Gaza Strip. When
the Gaza Strip was returned under Egyptian control, the attacks resumed, but on a
smaller scale. In 1963 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed to
co-ordinate attacks.
After the Six-Day War, with Gaza and Sinai in Israeli hands, and Israeli forces on
the Golan Heights, the only area from which the PLO could operate from was Jordan,
and this border became the focal point with the terrorists crossing the Jordan River,
going through the desert to reach Jerusalem and the coastal plain. From 1967 until
1970 the Jordan border became a battle ground with the Israeli army fighting not only
the terrorists but also the Jordanian army which assisted them. The Jordanian side of
the river became a desert as the inhabitants of the villages along it fled the fighting.