Palestinian fedayeen

Fedayeen from Fatah in Beirut, Lebanon, 1979

Palestinian fedayeen (Arabic: فدائيون, romanized: fidā'iyūn) are militants or guerrillas of a nationalist orientation from among the Palestinian people.^[1]^[2] Most Palestinians consider the fedayeen to be "freedom fighters",^[3] while most Israelis consider them to be "terrorists".

Considered symbols of the Palestinian national movement, the Palestinian fedayeen drew inspiration from guerrilla movements in Vietnam, China, Algeria and Latin America.^[2] The ideology of the Palestinian fedayeen was mainly left-wing nationalist, socialist or communist, and their proclaimed purpose was to defeat Zionism, claim Palestine and establish it as "a secular, democratic, nonsectarian state".^[4] The meaning of secular, democratic and non-sectarian, however, greatly diverged among fedayeen factions.^[4]

Emerging from among the Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled from their villages as a result of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War,^[5] in the mid-1950s the fedayeen began mounting cross-border operations into Israel from Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Fedayeen attacks were directed on the Gaza and Sinai borders with Israel. 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. The earliest infiltrations were primarily against civilian targets, however, some infiltrations were against agricultural and military targets.^[6]^[7] The Gaza Strip, the sole territory of the All-Palestine Protectorate—a Palestinian state declared in October 1948—became the focal point of the Palestinian fedayeen activity.^[8]

Fedayeen actions were cited by Israel as one of the reasons for its launching of the Sinai Campaign of 1956, the 1967 War, and the 1978 and 1982 invasions of Lebanon. Palestinian fedayeen groups were united under the umbrella the Palestine Liberation Organization after the defeat of the Arab armies in the 1967 Six-Day War, though each group retained its own leader and independent armed forces.^[9]

^ Cite error: The named reference Burgat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Milton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic (2005). The Design of Dissent. Rockport Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59253-117-2.
^ ^a ^b Bard E. O'Neill (1991). "The Intifada in the Context of Armed Struggle". In Robert Owen Freedman (ed.). The Intifada: Its Impact on Israel, the Arab World, and the Superpowers. University Press of Florida. pp. 64–66. ISBN 978-0-8130-1040-3.
^ Almog, 2003, p. 20.
^ Kameel B. Nasr (1996). Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936–1993. McFarland. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3105-2. Fedayeen to attack...almost always against civilians
^ Isaac Alteras (1993). Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.-Israeli Relations, 1953–1960. University Press of Florida. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-8130-1205-6. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2018. the removal of the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. The blockade closed Israel's sea lane to East Africa and the Far East, hindering the development of Israel's southern port of Eilat and its hinterland, the Nege. Another important objective of the Israeli war plan was the elimination of the terrorist bases in the Gaza Strip, from which daily fedayeen incursions into Israel made life unbearable for its southern population. And last but not least, the concentration of the Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, armed with the newly acquired weapons from the Soviet bloc, prepared for an attack on Israel. Here, Ben-Gurion believed, was a time bomb that had to be defused before it was too late. Reaching the Suez Canal did not figure at all in Israel's war objectives.
^ Facts On File, Incorporated. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East.
^ Cite error: The named reference Gresh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Burgat-1] Cite error: The named reference Burgat was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Milton-2] Cite error: The named reference Milton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Glaser-3] Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic (2005). The Design of Dissent. Rockport Publishers. ISBN 978-1-59253-117-2.

[ONeill-4] Bard E. O'Neill (1991). "The Intifada in the Context of Armed Struggle". In Robert Owen Freedman (ed.). The Intifada: Its Impact on Israel, the Arab World, and the Superpowers. University Press of Florida. pp. 64–66. ISBN 978-0-8130-1040-3.

[Almogp20-5] Almog, 2003, p. 20.

[6] Kameel B. Nasr (1996). Arab and Israeli Terrorism: The Causes and Effects of Political Violence, 1936–1993. McFarland. pp. 40–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3105-2. Fedayeen to attack...almost always against civilians

[7] Isaac Alteras (1993). Eisenhower and Israel: U.S.-Israeli Relations, 1953–1960. University Press of Florida. pp. 192–. ISBN 978-0-8130-1205-6. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2018. the removal of the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. The blockade closed Israel's sea lane to East Africa and the Far East, hindering the development of Israel's southern port of Eilat and its hinterland, the Nege. Another important objective of the Israeli war plan was the elimination of the terrorist bases in the Gaza Strip, from which daily fedayeen incursions into Israel made life unbearable for its southern population. And last but not least, the concentration of the Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula, armed with the newly acquired weapons from the Soviet bloc, prepared for an attack on Israel. Here, Ben-Gurion believed, was a time bomb that had to be defused before it was too late. Reaching the Suez Canal did not figure at all in Israel's war objectives.

[8] Facts On File, Incorporated. Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East.

[Gresh-9] Cite error: The named reference Gresh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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