ISRAELI ARMY CALLS UP 13,000 RESERVISTS FOR MASS WEST BANK EXERCISES

Israeli army has called up more than 13,000 reservists and held urgent training exercises in the occupied West Bank. (Photo: PNN)

Hebron, 12 Jumadil Awwal 1436/3 March 2015 (MINA) – The Israeli army has called up more than 13,000 reservists and held urgent training exercises in the West Bank, in what Israeli media outlets said was in preparation of possible escalation with the Palestinians.

Media sources said the surprise training, which took place near Hebron, was to test reservists’ alertness and to prepare for the possibility of a possible escalation in the West Bank.

The drills simulated mass protests by Palestinians, as well as clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, WAFA Palestinian News Agency quoted by Mi’raj islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Footage of the exercise filmed by an Israeli television showed soldiers in armored vehicles practicing how to handle casualties at the scene of a confrontation.

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The drill came days after Palestinian Authority officials said they would consider abolishing security cooperation with Israel, over Israel’s suspension of Palestinian clearance revenues transfers.

Last May, a senior Israeli commander admitted that training exercises in the occupied West Bank involve live fire and are used to drive local Palestinian residents off their land.

Israeli Colonel Einav Shalev, an operations officer in the Israeli military’s central command, admitted using the tactic during a subcommittee meeting of Israel’s parliament in April 2014.

The revelation was a rare official acknowledgement of a measure that critics have long decried as part of a deliberate policy by the Israeli authorities to force Palestinians out of their land. (T/R05/P3)

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Mi’raj islamic News Agency (MINA)