IBA Radio is reporting that Israel’s security forces ended Thursday a large national drill, in which the civil defense forces, police, military police, fire department and Israel’s prisons unit trained for large scale riots in the Israeli-Arab public, following a signing of a peace agreement that would include “population exchange” (transfer of Arab population to the Palestinian state).
According to Kol Israel’s report, in such an event, a large detention camp for Palestinian citizens will be constructed in Golani Junction, at Israel’s north, and all illegal aliens will be released from prisons to make room for Palestinians.
Two weeks ago, Israel’s foreign minister was criticizing for presenting his plan for populations exchange in a speech at the United Nation General Assembly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later claimed that FM Avigdor Lieberman didn’t represent Israeli government policy in his speech.
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On one hand, I think we should not turn this into a conspiracy item. The fact that the security forces are training doesn’t mean that Israeli leaders have such a plan or that they have a secret deal for population exchange with the Palestinian Authority.
On the other hand, this report does teach us a lot about the way Israel views its Palestinian citizens: while Israeli leaders are praising Israeli democracy and claiming that Palestinians are equal citizens (within the Green Line borders), policy makers view Arabs first and foremost as a security threat, and as people whose citizenship might be revoked at any given moment.
Some might argue that security forces must train for every scenario, even one that is not very likely to happen, so we shouldn’t deduct much from this item.
Well, how about training for widespread demonstrations and terror attacks following the evacuation of settlements? This is something that can actually take place, but no one would ever consider preparing for mass detentions of settlers right now. The political consequences of even contemplating such idea in public would be disastrous, as they should be.
Arab citizens should be treated with the same respect.
Dimi Reider see things differently. read it here.
Kol Israel (Israeli public radio) is retorting that Israel’s internal security forces ended Thursday a large national drill, in which the civil defense forces, police, military police, fire department and Israel’s prisons unit trained for large scale riots in the Israeli-Arab public, following a signing of a peace agreement that would include “population exchange” (transfer of Arab population to the Palestinian state).
According to Kol Israel’s report, in such an event, a large detention camp for Palestinian citizens will be constructed in Golani Junction, at Israel’s north, and all illegal aliens will be released from prisons to make room for Palestinians.
Two weeks ago, Israel’s foreign minister was criticizing for presenting his plan for population exchange in a speech at the United Nation General Assembly. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later claimed that Lieberman didn’t represent government policy in his speech.
Still, I think we should not turn this into a conspiracy item. The fact that the security forces are training doesn’t mean that Israeli leaders have such a plan or that they have a secret deal for population exchange with the Palesinian Authority.
On the other hand, this report does teach us a lot about the way Israel views its Palestinian citizens: while Israeli leaders are praising Israeli democracy and claiming that Palestinians are equal citizens (within the Green Line borders), policy makers view Arabs first and foremost as a security threat, and as people whose citizenship might be revoked at any given moment.
Some might argue that security forces must train for every scenario, even one that is not very likely to happen, so we shouldn’t deduct much from this item.
Well, how about training for widespread demonstrations and terror attacks following the evacuation of settlements? This is something that can actually take place, but no one would ever consider preparing for mass detentions of settlers right now. The political consequences of even contemplating such idea in public would be disastrous, as they should be.
Arab citizens should be treated with the same respect.
October 8, 2010
12:51 pm
Has there been a case in recent history of population exchanges? Something a bit more recent (and successful!) than Greece and Turkey; India and Pakistan; or Jews to Poland?
Israel has long planned population exchanges. For example, refer to the 2002 academic paper,
“Transfer of population as a solution to international disputes: Population exchanges between Greece and Turkey as a model for plans to solve the Jewish-Arab dispute in Palestine during the 1930s” by Yossi Katz, Department of Geography, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan.
October 9, 2010
11:50 am
An exercise is a practice of a plan.
You’d have to have your head stuck firmly in the sand to imagine that elements of Israel’s government don’t have a transfer plan. Several serving ministers campaigned for office on transfer platforms. The power center in Israel has never been as close to the transfer idea as it is now
It’s not like Israel wasn’t founded on population transfer. This has already happened. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a fact. And evidence of the mentality and of the plan isn’t hard to find. Rafah was ethnically cleansed to build the Philadelphia Corridor. That’s a plan and a reality right there.
You’re living in a state that was built on ethnic cleansing, and clearly continues to practice it. One day, Israel’s leaders will attempt a full blown ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, not just from Israel, but from the West Bank and Gaza too. I’ll give it 10 years. That’s the sad reality.
October 9, 2010
2:47 pm
David: there is a difference, I think, between an academic paper and an actual security force drill.
Nigel: while I don’t know what will happen in ten years, I don’t think that right now forced transfer is a real political option. it’s not on the agenda, and no politician publicly speaks of it.
I also think that the drill referred to moving the border in a way that Israeli-Palestinians will become part of the Palestinian state, rather than taking people out of their homes. this is the idea the Lieberman is promoting, and i think it’s bad enough.
October 9, 2010
4:30 pm
[...] Sheizaf reported on his blog the police and army recently concluded an extensive drill, practicing response to riots [...]
October 9, 2010
6:57 pm
Noam, of course there’s a difference between an academic paper and a drill. However, the point I was trying to make is that Zionists were contemplating these schemes before Jews were sent to the camps. That’s why a drill is not just a drill.
October 10, 2010
5:57 am
Dear all,
I wrote a post one way or another related to this issue on how Arab Jews in Israel and Arabs in general are mostly considered as a security thread to the governments.
Let me know what you think: http://wp.me/pSQmy-3H
Regards,
Afif
October 11, 2010
12:40 pm
[...] 11, 2010 · 0 comments Like 0 0 Retweet Cross-posted from Dimi's Notes.Noam Sheizaf reports on his blog the police and army recently concluded an extensive drill, practicing response to riots [...]
December 16, 2010
11:35 am
[...] forgotten it. I have no problem with the existence of the IDF, just with a big portion of what it does and how it does it. I was brought up on the claims that the IDF is a supremely humane and moral [...]