A ranking military officer indicated Monday that Israel is paying a high price for its efforts to restore order in the administered territories, both in terms of budgetary outlays and curtailed training for Israel Defense Force reservists.
Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ehud Barak told military correspondents that because of the great numbers of soldiers needed to suppress the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — now in its fifth month — combat reservists will have to serve 60 days’ duty this year instead of the normal 30 days.
He disclosed that since the unrest began last Dec. 9, 131 Palestinians have been killed. There are now 4,800 Palestinians in IDF prisons, 900 of them under administrative detention, which means they can be held for six months without trial or formal charges.
Two Israeli Jews have been killed in the uprising. One of them, a soldier, Moshe Katz, was stabbed at his guard post in Bethlehem March 20; the other, a 15-year-old girl, Tirza Porat, died during a clash in Beita village in the West Bank April 6.
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