, and Israel acquired moreterritory, especially in Galilee and the Negev. By January1949, when the last battles ended, Israel had extended itsfrontiers by about 5,000 sq km (1,930 sq mi) beyond the 15,500sq km (4,983 sq mi) allocated to the Jewish state in the UNpartition resolution. It had also secured its independence.During 1949, armistice agreements were signed under UN auspicesbetween Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Thearmistice frontiers were unofficial boundaries until 1967.SUEZ-SINAI WAR (1956)Border conflicts between Israel and the Arabs continued despiteprovisions in the 1949 armistice agreements for peacenegotiations. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs whohad left Israeli-held territory during the first warconcentrated in refugee camps along Israel's frontiers andbecame a major source of friction when they infiltrated back totheir homes or attacked Israeli border settlements. A majortension point was the Egyptian-controlled GAZA STRIP, which wasused by Arab guerrillas for raids into southern Israel.Egypt's blockade of Israeli shipping in the Suez Canal and Gulfof Aqaba intensified the hostilities.These escalating tensions converged with the SUEZ CRISIS causedby the nationalization of the Suez Canal by Egyptian presidentGamal NASSER. Great Britain and France strenuously objected toNasser's policies, and a joint military campaign was plannedagainst Egypt with the understanding that Israel would take theinitiative by seizing the Sinai Peninsula. The war began onOct. 29, 1956, after an announcement that the armies of Egypt,Syria, and Jordan were to be integrated under the Egyptiancommander in chief. Israel's Operation Kadesh, commanded byMoshe DAYAN, lasted less than a week; its forces reached theeastern bank of the Suez Canal in about 100 hours, seizing theGaza Strip and nearly all the Sinai Peninsula. The Sinaioperations were supplemented by an Anglo-French invasion ofEgypt on November 5, giving...
