Akademik

Kibya
(Qibya)
   The Jordanian village that was the site of the first major retaliatory raid by Israel to terrorist incursions from neighboring Arab countries. On 15 October 1953, Palestinian infiltrators from Jordan murdered a young woman and two of her children in the Israeli settlement of Yehud. Israeli intelligence identified the Jordanian village of Kibya as one of the bases used by the infiltrators for this and other attacks. Despite the opposition of Prime Minister Moshe Sharett (who reportedly preferred to indirectly work with the Jordanian government in stopping the terrorist incursions), a special antiterrorist squad of Israeli soldiers, Unit 101, commanded by Ariel Sharon, raided Kibya on 14-15 October 1953. In the course of the attack, about 12 Jordanian soldiers were killed, along with some 60 Jordanian civilians. Though the Kibya raid produced the short-term benefit of temporarily deterring cross-border terrorist incursions, the diplomatic costs to Israel were substantial, including condemnations by the United States, Great Britain, and the United Nations Security Council.
   See also Arab-Israeli Conflict; Fedayeen; Israel Defense Forces (IDF; ZAHAL).

Historical Dictionary of Israel. .