IDF’s Mission in Cities: Keep Things As Calm as Possible

IDF troops were dispatched Wednesday to six cities in Israel to provide assistance to the police working ceaselessly in the past several weeks to protect the public as Arabs continue to conduct terror attacks and riot throughout the country.

The soldiers are being deployed to provide assistance to the police – but also to calm a situation that has not yet, but could, turn into a major conflagration, analysts said.

The deployment of IDF soldiers to bolster police officers is considered an exceptional move, as keeping order in cities is considered the job of police, not the army.

The soldiers who are being deployed are graduates of the IDF officers school, allowing the army to provide personnel without reducing the number of troops available for missions as well as avoid calling up reservists.

Although most of the attention in recent weeks has been on Jerusalem, the IDF, officials said, feel that they have a much more important role to play in Judea and Samaria.

There are daily rock-throwing and firebomb attacks throughout the region, as well as riots and attempted carjackings and the like. Keeping a lid on the situation there is of utmost importance, the officials said.

The situation in Jerusalem is extremely complicated, because of the large number of Arabs who are Jerusalem residents and are free to work and travel around the city. In addition, some 100,000 Arabs from Judea and Samaria work in Israel, and the IDF, like the government, wants to ensure that daily life can continue as normally as possible. This, said the officials, is the army’s greatest challenge.

The officials said that the primary mission was to prevent further growth of the activities against Israel, including riots and terror attacks, and to try to “lower the flame” and encourage calm among Palestinians.

However, the officials said, that could be much harder than the army anticipates: As long as Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas continues to incite against Israel, the possibility of a major explosion exists, making ensuring normal life for Israelis and Palestinians all the more difficult.