On the eve of the sixth anniversary of the start of the Palestinian uprising, Israel has sent massive reinforcements into the strife-torn West Bank and Gaza Strip, bolstering a force that already numbers 14,000 troops.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin made the disclosure of Israel’s troop strength in the administered territories, usually a military secret, on Wednesday during an annual speech to Israeli newspaper editors.
The deployment of reinforcements in the West Bank and Gaza came during a week that is expected to be particularly tense.
Palestinian leaders have called for a strike on Wednesday and Thursday to mark the beginning of the intifada.
Dec. 11 will be the 27th anniversary of the establishment of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical rejectionist faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization based in Damascus.
Yet another anniversary will take place ec. 14, the anniversary of the founding of Hamas.
Dozens of Palestinian activists opposed to the peace process reportedly have been detained by security forces in an attempt to head off riots on these occasions.
Dec. 13 was the original target date for Israel to begin withdrawing its troops from Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho under the terms of the self-rule accord Israel and the PLO signed in Washington in September.
WITHDRAWALS MAY BE POSTPONED
Both parties to the accord have conceded that the withdrawals may have to be postponed a week or two until negotiations for implementing the agreement can be completed in Cairo.
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher publicly endorsed a minor delay at a news conference in Cairo.
One area in which Israel and the PLO are at odds is the question of Jerusalem.
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday that Jerusalem should be made a capital city for both Israelis and Palestinians.
“You can solve the issue of Jerusalem by making it a joint capital of two states but without the so-called Berlin Wall,” he said at a news conference in Bonn at the end of a two-day visit.
Israel insists that Jerusalem remain its eternal, undivided capital.
Speaking at the annual lunch of the Israel Editors Committee, Rabin said his government is doing everything it can to protect Israeli settlers from terrorism.
He said Palestinian terrorists have been shifting their targets from Israeli soldiers to settlers in the territories because they know it spurs public opposition to the accord.
“There are 120 companies, and sometimes more, serving in the territories, protecting the Israeli settlers and settlements,” Rabin told the gathering.
“Today there are almost four times as many Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza than on the Lebanese border and the security zone” in southern Lebanon, he said.
There are about 120 soldiers in an Israeli infantry company.
Despite the increased presence of Israeli troops, an Israeli man was critically injured when he was shot Wednesday near Bethlehem in the latest in a spiral of terrorist attacks.
The attack is part of a wave of stepped-up violence coming days before the accord with the PLO was scheduled to go into effect.
The wave has unleashed storms of anti-government protests by settlers throughout the country and prompted the Israeli military to order up the reinforcements to serve in the territories.
Army sources say there are now more soldiers in the West Bank than at any time in the past few years.
The sources said the reinforcements, in addition to increasing their activities in searching for wanted terrorists and dealing with terrorist groups active in the areas, will interpose themselves between Palestinians and settlers in an effort to restore calm in the troubled region.
TREMENDOUS CHALLENGE TO SECURITY FORCES
The massive reinforcements, including several teams from elite combat units, were drawn from training bases all over the country.
Israel Defense Force sources said the army’s training program “has practically shut down.”
“This is a tremendous blow to our training program,” one source said.
Recent statements by military commanders indicate there is no expectation that the terrorist attacks will abate or that security forces will be able to contain the situation entirely.
“Despite the massive reinforcement, the IDF and the other security forces will not be able to be everywhere all the time to prevent attacks,” one senior commander told the Jerusalem Post.
“In the coming weeks and months, even after the signing and implementation of a final agreement on Gaza and Jericho, we expect the security situation to present a tremendous challenge to the security forces,” he said.
The continued violence in the territories has spurred calls for a new coalition to form a national emergency government.
On Wednesday, Knesset members argued about the spate of terrorist incidents, with the opposition continuing to criticize government policy as reckless.
Former Foreign Minister David Levy, now a Likud Knesset member, charged that Jewish blood was being shed in vain and that there is a widespread feeling that no government is in charge, Israel Radio reported.
Meanwhile, Hamas has challenged the IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, to “resign or face the bullets” of its military wing, Izz a-Din al-Kassam.
The al-Kassam unit claimed responsibility for an attack earlier this week that killed a father and son Monday outside the West Bank town of Hebron. Hamas said the attacks were to avenge recent killings by Israeli forces of Hamas gunmen.
(Contributing to this report was JTA correspondent Hugh Orgel in Tel Aviv.)
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