Editing Moshe Dayan (section)

===Southern Command===
On 25 October 1949, he was promoted to major general and appointed commander of the Southern Command. Most of the staff officers resigned in protest of his replacement of [[Yigal Allon]].<ref>''Story of My Life'' pp. 146, 150.</ref> The major problem in the south of the country was Palestinians crossing the border, "infiltrating", from the Gaza Strip, Sinai, and the Hebron hills. Dayan was an advocate of a "harsh" policy along the border. In Jerusalem, he had given instructions that infiltrators killed in no-man's-land or the Arab side of the border should be moved to the Israeli side before UN inspections.<ref>Morris, Benny (1993) ''Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956. Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War''. Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-827850-0}}. p. 130. February – July 1950: 26 in Israel, 11 in no-man's-land, 23 on Jordanian side of the border.</ref> Allon had already introduced a 7 kilometre "free-fire" zone along the southern borders.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' Page 126. "Every stranger found ... will be shot without interrogation." 4 June 1949.</ref> In the spring of 1950, Dayan authorized the [[Israeli Air Force]] to [[strafe]] shepherds and their herds in the [[Beit Guvrin, Israel|Beit Govrin]] area. There were also strafing attacks on [[bedouin]] camps in the [[Gaza City|Gaza]] area.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' Page 191. possibly due to pilots having fun, "more likely" authorized by Dayan.</ref> In early 1950, 700 bedouin, [[Shaqib al-Salam|'''Azame'']], were expelled from the South Hebron area. In September 1950, several thousand more were driven from the demilitarized zone at [[Auja al-Hafir|Al-Ajua]]<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. UNTSO estimated 4,000, another over 6,000. [[Teddy Kollek]] has 2–3,000.</ref> During 1950, the remaining population of [[Al-Majdal, Askalan|al-Majdal]] were transferred to the Gaza Strip<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' 109.</ref><ref>Teveth. p. 213. "1950 was an uneventful year."</ref> In a notorious incident on 31 May 1950, the [[Israel Defense Forces|army]] forced 120 Arabs across the Jordanian border at [[Arabah|'Arava]]. "Two or three dozen" died of thirst before reaching safety.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' pp. 157, 158. From a prison camp at [[Qatra]]</ref>

During 1950, Dayan also developed a policy of punitive cross-border [[Reprisal operations|reprisal raids]] in response to [[fedayeen]] attacks on Israelis. IDF squads were sent into the Gaza Strip to lay mines.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars,'' Pp 197. p. 133 lists 7 incidents around Kibbutz Erez, January – June 1950, in which 13 Arabs were killed.</ref> The first retaliation raid on a village occurred 20 March 1950 when six Arabs were killed at [[Khirbet Jamrura]].<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. Page 189.</ref> On 18 June 1950, Dayan explained his thinking to the [[Mapai]] faction in the [[Knesset]]:

<blockquote>[Retaliation is] the only method that [has] proved effective, not justified or moral but effective, when Arabs plants mines on our side. If we try to search for that Arab, it has no value. But if we harass the nearby village... then the population there comes out against the [infiltrators]... and the Egyptian Government and the Transjordanian government are [driven] to prevent such incidents, because their prestige is [at stake], as the Jews have opened fire, and they are unready to begin a war...
The method of collective punishment so far has proved effective... There are no other effective methods.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. p. 177.</ref></blockquote>

In 1950, Moshe Dayan also ordered the Israeli army in 1950 to destroy the [[Shrine of Husayn's Head]], more than a year after [[1948 Palestine war|hostilities]] ended. It is thought that the demolition was related to Dayan's efforts to expel the remaining Palestinian Arabs from the region.{{sfn|Talmon-Heller|Kedar|Reiter|2016}}

On 8 March 1951, 18 were killed at [[Idna]]. On 20 October 1951, two Battalion 79 (7th Brigade) companies destroyed several houses and an ice factory in eastern Gaza City; dozens were killed and injured. On 6 January 1952, an armoured infantry company from the same battalion attacked a Bedouin camp, ''Nabahim,'' near [[Bureij refugee camp]] killing 15.<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 190, 201/2, 203.</ref> [[Glubb Pasha]] wrote that the objective of this new strategy seemed to "be merely to kill Arabs indiscriminately". Dayan saw it as an "eye for an eye".<ref>Morris, ''Border Wars''. pp. 193–194</ref> He was a close friend of [[Amos Yarkoni]], an Arab officer in the [[Israel Defense Forces]], At the time, the Military Commander commented that "''if Moshe Dayan could be the [[Ramatkal]] (Chief of the General Staff) without an eye, we can have a Battalion Commander with a prosthetic hand''".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.shaked.org.il/c.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060714015950/http://www.shaked.org.il/c.html|archive-date = 14 July 2006|title = עמותת סיירת שקד 424 – סיירת שקד}}</ref>

At the end of 1951, Dayan attended a course at the British Army's Senior Officers' School in [[Devizes]], England. In May 1952, he was appointed operational commander of the Northern Command.<ref>Teveth. p.  221.</ref>