ABSTRACT

The story of the years following the 1948 war is one of violations and counter-violations of the Israeli-Jordanian Armistice Agreement and of frequent escalations of tension. The first attempts by the refugees to return to their homes and re-join their families and retrieve deserted moveable property and assets that had been hidden demanded courage. The literature of the time romanticized the reality to a certain extent. Some Arab writers described all infiltration activities as part of a planned, organized struggle against Israel and as an expression of the yearning to Return. To the Israeli and Jordanian authorities acts of infiltration, whatever their motive, came under the umbrella of "outlaw intruders". Both armies were worried that, if they did not block the physically unsealable border, further successful infiltration would occur. Fear of Israeli retaliation prompted the various ways of dealing with infiltration, and was itself a possibility that had to be provided for by the Jordanians.