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IDF troops taking up positions during a recent military operation in Jenin. (AP)
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Last update - 12:49 13/11/2007
Major IDF drill to simulate large-scale W. Bank clashes
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents
tags: Israel, Gaza, West Bank, IDF

The Israel Defense Forces will conduct a major exercise next week simulating a widespread escalation of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank, resulting from a major wave of terror attacks ahead of the Annapolis summit.

Though the drill will be taking place a week before the Annapolis conference, the timing is apparently coincidental: It was scheduled back in July, when the date of the U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference was not yet known.

The exercise is not an official preparation in case talks at Annapolis fail, though senior IDF officers have been predicting for weeks that the conference has little chance of succeeding.
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Rather, it simulates a scenario in which terrorist organizations launch a massive wave of attacks prior to the conference in order to ensure its failure.

The scenario posits this campaign being accompanied by widespread demonstrations in the West Bank. It also posits the IDF having limited forces with which to respond, due to ongoing tensions on the Syrian and Gazan borders.

Exercise scenarios are often deliberately exaggerated, and do not necessarily reflect what the IDF expects to happen. However, several major exercises in the past have ended up accurately anticipating reality. In June 2006, for instance, an IDF exercise posited the abduction of a soldier to Gaza closely followed by the abduction of other soldiers to Lebanon. Later that month, Gilad Shalit was indeed kidnapped to Gaza, after which Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were kidnapped to Lebanon in July.

Regarding Annapolis itself, the IDF now believes that the parties may be able to formulate a general declaration that would prevent a violent outbreak in the territories after the conference ends.

It has been years since the IDF last conducted a drill of this type, as one planned for July 2006 was canceled due to the Second Lebanon War.

Meanwhile, the defense establishment has drafted a new proposal for cutting electricity supplies to Gaza in response to rocket fire, after Attorney General Menachem Mazuz vetoed its original proposal. That proposal would have halted electricity to specified areas for specified amounts of time following a rocket launch. The new plan states that instead of deliberate outages, Israel will gradually reduce the voltage it supplies to the strip, meaning that in practice, less electricity will be available for Gaza's needs.

Defense officials claim that the new proposal meets the requirements Mazuz set, which included the need to warn the Palestinians in advance of the planned measures. The proposal will now be submitted to Mazuz for approval.

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      1.   The Palestinians are being well prepared 03:23  |  Mark Lincoln 13/11/07
      2.   Clahes! 03:54  |  Al 13/11/07
      3.   Canned story: "In Egypt, calls for peace bring waves of rebuke" 04:11  |  Genuine Tosefta 13/11/07
      4.   Israel Must Withdraw From The Annapolis Conference 04:25  |  Eli 13/11/07
      5.   Genuine Tosefta - Of Course The Arabs Are Not Interested 05:03  |  Eli 13/11/07
      6.   Another Intifada, Another Naqba 05:28  |  Yishai Kohen 13/11/07
      7.   GENUINE TOSEFTA #3 05:47  |  JOJO 13/11/07
      8.   It Is About Time - the IDFHas Been On Stupid Pills for Too Long 05:58  |  Tod Zuckerman 13/11/07
      9.   #1 Lincoln 06:17  |  * BEN JABO 13/11/07
      10.   mark lincoln....why do palestinians/arabs kill 06:43  |  maria 13/11/07
      11.   No drill needed 07:24  |  Choni Davidowitz 13/11/07
      12.   The IDF is a criminal mindset and terror structure 07:46  |  Dutch 13/11/07
      13.   This conflict must be take out of Israel`s hands 07:55  |  Dutch 13/11/07
      14.   Israel always expecting the worst.....???? 08:16  |  Swiss (Dino) 13/11/07
      15.   Here`s the URL of the Egypt story 08:43  |  mimeni 13/11/07
      16.   After All 09:05  |  Clickfool 13/11/07
      17.   tendentious reporting 09:32  |  American 13/11/07
      18.   maria..there was also supernatural reason 09:41  |  Mary 13/11/07
      19.   Realistic Drill 09:41  |  Proud Israeli 13/11/07
      20.   To Eli #4 09:48  |  Clickfool 13/11/07
      21.   Hamas/Fatah same bunch of killers 09:50  |  maurice 13/11/07
      22.   Professional armies don`t act in this manner 10:21  |  Dutch 13/11/07
      23.   bullies are cowards,yishai kohen 11:15  |  drillthrill 13/11/07
      24.   To DUTCH Palestinian Arabs have no ancient historical claims to P 12:05  |  Levi 13/11/07
      25.   After Annapolis 12:09  |  Shimon 13/11/07
      26.   Swiss Dino 13:04  |  Nik "Banned" Miller 13/11/07
      27.   reality is too simple for present company 13:22  |  res ipse loquitor 13/11/07
      28.   to#14 Dino, with Islamofascists you can only expect the worst. 13:57  |  maurice 13/11/07
      29.   Drillthrill Obviously Isn`t Really From Haifa 14:07  |  Yishai Kohen 13/11/07
      30.   No spin doctors here. Its for real. 14:39  |  Stephen. 13/11/07
      31.   Wrong Clickfool # 20- We Will Withdraw From "A" Land 15:26  |  Eli 13/11/07
      32.   genuine tosefta 3 15:56  |  realism 13/11/07
      33.   Israel is not going to leave the West Bank... 17:40  |  Silvienne 13/11/07
      34.   Dutch#13 17:58  |  Observer 13/11/07
      35.   To #13 Dutch 18:34  |  Jerusalem Jew 13/11/07
      36.   #34, Observer... 18:41  |  Silvienne 13/11/07
      37.   drill required on iran, not west bank 19:43  |  goldman 13/11/07
      38.   observer`s biblical exegis 20:15  |  hebrew reader 13/11/07
      39.   UnREALISTIC idiot,Israel already has signed Peace agremnt w/Egypt 20:18  |  Genuine Tosefta 13/11/07
      40.   #34 Observer - how about ishmael 20:53  |  goldman 13/11/07
      41.   JOJO #7 The Haaretz canned story-story, how to find it 21:03  |  Genuine Tosefta 13/11/07
      42.   why train? the IDF cannot win this 21:21  |  Leona 13/11/07
      43.   #22 DEMENTED DUTCH 22:46  |  * BEN JABO 13/11/07
      44.   #36 Silvienne 22:51  |  * BEN JABO 13/11/07
      45.   #20 clickfool 23:04  |  Axel 13/11/07
      46.   #45 Axel - It`s elementary 02:05  |  * BEN JABO 14/11/07
      47.   #44, Ben Jabo... 05:52  |  Silvienne 14/11/07
      48.   #47 Silvienne 15:42  |  * BEN JABO 14/11/07
      49.   #48, Ben Jabo... 20:57  |  Silvienne 14/11/07
      50.   #40-Goldman 21:23  |  Observer 14/11/07
      51.   #50 Silvienne - Please repost that letter 01:17  |  * BEN JABO 15/11/07
      52.   #51, Ben Jabo... 05:07  |  Silvienne 15/11/07
      53.   To Silvienne 14:16  |  Hershel 15/11/07
      54.   #53, Hershel... 17:34  |  Silvienne 15/11/07
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