Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 1 of 206 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large (1000x1000 max)
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
|
This page
All
|
- This item is restricted to only allow viewing of the metadata.
Israel's 'Little War' 01 the Borders Here is a report of what happens when Arab 'infiltrators' violate the Israeli frontier. By DANA ADAMS SCHMIDT Tel Aviv. MORE than five years after its declaration of independence Israel la still fighting a war— "the little war," the battle of the borders. Since becoming a nation she has never known an extended period of quiet on all her borders at the .same time. Always there have been "infiltrators" who slip across the Israeli frontier whenever Uie moon is down. They come in greatest numbers when the nights are long and rainstorms lash the land, but every night they come. It has become obvious that the armistices signed between Israel and her neighbors—Egypt. Jordan. Lebanon and Syria—are fragile instruments. So acute has the frontier problem grown that it was one of the pressing reasons for Secretary of State Dulles' recent tour of Middle Eastern trouble spots, after which he urged an "impartial" approach by the United States to help ease the Israeli-Arab tensions. Until there is a change in the "atmosphere of hate." as Mr. Dulles put it, there can be no real progress toward building a Middle East defense structure. The Israeli frontier is 775 miles long, stretching In a ragged line from the Mediterranean, at the southern end of Lebanon, down to the Red Sea. and then back up to the Mediterranean again, at the edge of Egypt. It runs mosUy through the desert land which is typical of this part of the world, and it is full of potenUal—and actual- trouble spots. In divided Jerusalem there are places where Israelis live within a few yards of the ancient city walls of the Jordan-held Old City of Jerusalem. From these walls the Arab Legion's machine-guns dominate all of Israel's New City. J\ X, along the frontier of this young country are Arab refugees who once lived in the lands that now are Israel. They get just enough relief from the United Nations Relief and Works Administration to keep them alive and nourish their deep resentment of the Israelis across the border. A quarter million such refugees crowd the narrow Gaza strip in the Negev, occupied by the Egyptian army. Several hundred thousand more are in Jordanian-occupied Palestine, most of them within a few thousand yards of Israel's borders. These sullen refugees languish in tents and shacks in the stony hills overlooking the fertile plains from which they fled or were driven in 1948 and 1949. It Is this part of the Israeli frontier —the border opposite that section of Palestine now included in Jordan— which is the worst trouble spot. Hero the line, drawn on a feverish night in Rhodes, where the armistice with Jordan was signed on April 3, 1949, la entirely artificial. It follows no geographical or economical divisions; it cuts through some Arab villages and separates others from their lands or their wells. Everyone agrees — kibbutzniks, army and police officers and United Nations observers—that this makeshift demarcation cannot remain forever as it is today. On the Israeli side of the frontiers, settlements have been turned into armed camps. Barbed wire encircles barns and living quarters, and a few of the richer kibbutzim have constructed a ring of floodlights around their buildings. All keep guards on duty every night. They strain their eyes and ears for signs of hostile movement, of the coming of the infiltrators. w, THAT happens in the "war of in- filtraUon"? Infiltration means many things: A 25-year-old mother in a settlement in Samaria puts her daughter to bed and sits sewing and reading. About midnight she hears a noise outside and walks into the kitchen. She turns on the light. As the light goes on a Sten gun rattles angrily in the yard outside, spraying the kitchen window with lead and sending glass flying in al) direc- LOOKING TOWARD SYRIA—Raid-, by Arab "infiltrators-' have bred a war-like tension all along Israeli's 775-mile frontier. This is an Israeli patrol station on the Syn'an border. 'i- '"*y$' -.-u i irWl. • *'t\
Object Description
Collection Name | Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Collection Number | I-123 |
Dates | 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953 |
Box Number | 130 |
Folder Number | 03 |
Subjects |
Antisemitism Civil Rights Social Justice World War II |
Access | Request Access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
Description
Collection Name | Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Collection Number | I-123 |
Dates | 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953 |
Box Number | 130 |
Folder Number | 03 |
Subjects |
Antisemitism Civil Rights Social Justice World War II |
Description |
Activities Israel and The Middle East Chronological Files Printed Material |
Access | Request Access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Transcript | Israel's 'Little War' 01 the Borders Here is a report of what happens when Arab 'infiltrators' violate the Israeli frontier. By DANA ADAMS SCHMIDT Tel Aviv. MORE than five years after its declaration of independence Israel la still fighting a war— "the little war," the battle of the borders. Since becoming a nation she has never known an extended period of quiet on all her borders at the .same time. Always there have been "infiltrators" who slip across the Israeli frontier whenever Uie moon is down. They come in greatest numbers when the nights are long and rainstorms lash the land, but every night they come. It has become obvious that the armistices signed between Israel and her neighbors—Egypt. Jordan. Lebanon and Syria—are fragile instruments. So acute has the frontier problem grown that it was one of the pressing reasons for Secretary of State Dulles' recent tour of Middle Eastern trouble spots, after which he urged an "impartial" approach by the United States to help ease the Israeli-Arab tensions. Until there is a change in the "atmosphere of hate." as Mr. Dulles put it, there can be no real progress toward building a Middle East defense structure. The Israeli frontier is 775 miles long, stretching In a ragged line from the Mediterranean, at the southern end of Lebanon, down to the Red Sea. and then back up to the Mediterranean again, at the edge of Egypt. It runs mosUy through the desert land which is typical of this part of the world, and it is full of potenUal—and actual- trouble spots. In divided Jerusalem there are places where Israelis live within a few yards of the ancient city walls of the Jordan-held Old City of Jerusalem. From these walls the Arab Legion's machine-guns dominate all of Israel's New City. J\ X, along the frontier of this young country are Arab refugees who once lived in the lands that now are Israel. They get just enough relief from the United Nations Relief and Works Administration to keep them alive and nourish their deep resentment of the Israelis across the border. A quarter million such refugees crowd the narrow Gaza strip in the Negev, occupied by the Egyptian army. Several hundred thousand more are in Jordanian-occupied Palestine, most of them within a few thousand yards of Israel's borders. These sullen refugees languish in tents and shacks in the stony hills overlooking the fertile plains from which they fled or were driven in 1948 and 1949. It Is this part of the Israeli frontier —the border opposite that section of Palestine now included in Jordan— which is the worst trouble spot. Hero the line, drawn on a feverish night in Rhodes, where the armistice with Jordan was signed on April 3, 1949, la entirely artificial. It follows no geographical or economical divisions; it cuts through some Arab villages and separates others from their lands or their wells. Everyone agrees — kibbutzniks, army and police officers and United Nations observers—that this makeshift demarcation cannot remain forever as it is today. On the Israeli side of the frontiers, settlements have been turned into armed camps. Barbed wire encircles barns and living quarters, and a few of the richer kibbutzim have constructed a ring of floodlights around their buildings. All keep guards on duty every night. They strain their eyes and ears for signs of hostile movement, of the coming of the infiltrators. w, THAT happens in the "war of in- filtraUon"? Infiltration means many things: A 25-year-old mother in a settlement in Samaria puts her daughter to bed and sits sewing and reading. About midnight she hears a noise outside and walks into the kitchen. She turns on the light. As the light goes on a Sten gun rattles angrily in the yard outside, spraying the kitchen window with lead and sending glass flying in al) direc- LOOKING TOWARD SYRIA—Raid-, by Arab "infiltrators-' have bred a war-like tension all along Israeli's 775-mile frontier. This is an Israeli patrol station on the Syn'an border. 'i- '"*y$' -.-u i irWl. • *'t\ |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
Tags
Add tags for Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts
Comments
Post a Comment for Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts