Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency

Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency
Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
Israeli policemen inspecting the bodies of five fedayeen killed near Nir Galim, 1956
Date 1949–1956 Location All-Palestine Protectorate, West Bank and Israel Result Israeli victory Palestinian insurgency heavily reduced
Belligerents
Israel	Palestinian Fedayeen Supported by: All-Palestine Protectorate Egypt (until 1953) Egypt (from 1953) Syria  Jordan
Casualties and losses
400–967 soldiers and civilians killed (1951-1955)	3,000–5,000 insurgents and civilians killed (1948-1956)[1]

The Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency was an armed cross-border conflict, which peaked between 1949 and 1956, involving Israel and Palestinian militants, mainly based in the Gaza Strip, under the nominal control of the All-Palestine Protectorate – a Palestinian client-state of Egypt declared in October 1948, which became the focal point of the Palestinian fedayeen activity.^[2] The conflict was parallel to the Palestinian infiltration phenomenon. Hundreds were killed in the course of the conflict, which declined after the 1956 Suez War.

Emerging from among the Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled from their villages as a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War,^[3] in the mid-1950s the fedayeen began mounting cross-border operations into Israel from Syria, Egypt and Jordan. The earliest infiltrations were often made in order to access the lands and agricultural products, which Palestinians had lost as a result of the war, later shifting to attacks on Israeli military and civilian targets. Fedayeen attacks were directed on Gaza and Sinai borders with Israel, and as a result Israel undertook retaliatory actions, targeting the fedayeen that also often targeted the citizens of their host countries, which in turn provoked more attacks.