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The Voice of Israel Radio reported that on Thursday (7 October, 2010), Israeli security forces completed a comprehensive security exercise simulating the response to mass demonstrations of Palestinian citizens of Israel following conclusion of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Amongst other things, the security forces ran through scenarios of violent demonstrations following any possible agreement for population exchange with the PA.
This exercise fits the vision of the Minister of Internal Security, Yitzhak Aharonovitch and his party Yisrael Beitenu, which support population exchange between Israel and the PA should a peace agreement be signed.
In May 2004 the Chairperson of Yisrael Beitenu and then Minister of Transportation, Avigdor Liberman, proposed the idea of population exchange as part of his comprehensive plan for solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The essence of this plan is that Israel would annex the settlement blocs in the West Bank and in parallel, transfer territory in Israel’s triangle area, an area populated by Palestinians, to the Palestinian state that would be established. According to the plan, Palestinians living in this area would lose their Israeli citizenship, unless they would chose to migrate to Israel in its new borders and swear loyalty to the state.
According to a 2006 study conducted by Shaul Arieli, Dubi Schwartz and Hadas Tagari from the Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies, approximately 148,000 Israeli citizens would lose their citizenship in such a population exchange.
This plan is not new in the history of the Zionist movement. Already in 1937, David Ben Gurion wrote in his diary that the primary contribution of the Peel Commission is its proposal for population exchange between the Jewish and Arab states to be established.
Approximately 300,000 Palestinians were deported from the West Bank during the June 1967 war and in its immediate aftermath.
To date a detailed plan for implementing Liberman’s proposal has not been published, and the exercise that concluded on 7 October is the first time that Israeli security forces are focused on the operative aspects of such a plan. The exercise was conducted by Israel’s Prison Authority and included participation of the Home Command, the Israeli police, the military police and fire fighters, amongst others.
According to the Voice of Israel, in the event that the plan for population exchange would be implemented, security forces would establish at the Golani (Maskana ) Junction in the Upper Galilee a detention centre for citizens who oppose it.
This exercise also simulated Hamas attempts to take over the Gaza Strip, similar to the takeover of Gaza, a renewal of Palestinian attacks, riots throughout the prisons, and the firing of rockets and external attacks on prisons. According to this same scenario, all Palestinians previously detained for being in Israel without permits, approximately 1500 in number, would be immediately released from prisons in order to ensure intake of new Palestinian prisoners within 24 hours.
The Israel Prison Services established two simulated prisons for practicing rescue attempts. Security forces further simulated the escape of criminal prisoners from jail, employing a helicopter for search and seizure. Scenarios of kidnapping prison staff and kidnappings were further conducted.
Israeli security forces conducted a similar exercise in November 2009, on the eve of Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip. This exercise consolidated the policy of oppression of Palestinian citizens of Israel and Jewish activists who would protest such an attack. Conclusions of this exercise were later implemented and expressed the strong arm of the police against any form of legitimate protest.
This article was translated to English by the Alternative Information Center (AIC).
