The IDF finalized preparations for potential widespread violence in September as the result of the Palestinian U.N. statehood bid, and recently drafted plans to mobilize reserve battalions if they are needed in support of active duty soldiers, IDF officials said.
Reserve duty officers toured the West Bank over the past few weeks and surveyed regions they may be deployed to in September if active duty forces are overwhelmed by mass rioting. Despite the intensified reserve preparations, senior officers in the Central Command believe there won't be a need for them to be mobilized. "As an army we must be prepared for worst case scenarios," an officer said.
Central Command units that may be involved in confrontations with Palestinians were equipped with crowd control gear, including: stun grenades, tear-gas, and rubber bullets. They were also given aerial surveillance drones to provide real-time information concerning flash mobs in the areas in which the units are operating. In addition, vehicular roads and paths were improved, and security at locations frequented by hitchhikers was bolstered.
A senior IDF officer speculated that Palestinian Authority security forces will try to keep rioters under control themselves, but they are also expected to divest the rioters of any responsibility of wrong-doing once they are caught. "We believe that just as they did on Nakba day, they [PA security forces] will do everything they can to keep the situation under control, with the exception of using live ammunition. But the moment they realize they cannot contain the crowd, they will step aside and allow them to reach IDF soldiers," a defense official said.
The IDF is also preparing for a scenario in which the PA will side with the protesters against IDF troops, as they did during the second intifada. "This does not seem likely at the moment, but commanders believed that they [PA forces] wouldn't turn on them in 2000, so we have learned to proceed with caution," the official said.
The IDF is readying itself for possible confrontations on the Lebanese and Syrian borders as well as the Gaza Strip, a lesson learned during the Nakba and Naksa days, in which hundreds of Palestinian refugees and supporters attempted and partly succeeded in breaching the fences along Israel's borders.
