Israel soon faces new and severe threats…

Israel soon faces new and severe threats despite its victory in the 1948 war.

Arab refugees continue to infiltrate the armistice lines seeking to reclaim fields and houses.

Irregular Arab forces, drawn from refugee camps outside Israel's borders, begin to attack Israeli villages, farms, and road traffic.

Israel also contains a sizable minority of Arabs (at this time roughly one-sixth of the population), who are kept under military rule in certain areas (until 1966) and, in some cases, are relocated away from border zones.