ABSTRACT
The ceasefire agreements between Israel and Arab countries after the War of Independence stipulated that it was “forbidden to cross the lines or to enter the area between the lines.”1 However, within a short time, citizens of the neighboring countries began to cross into Israel for various purposes. This was a complex and many-facetted phenomenon,2 which Israel approached in the broad context of the Israeli-Arab dispute and Israel’s political and security problems, thereby giving infiltration its main political status. The question of proper response had engaged the top levels of Israel’s political and defense establishments since 1951 and, during 1953, these internal discussions multiplied.3
