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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (489)	11/21/2001 10:56:38 AM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 32591

Wednesday, November 21, 2001 Kislev 6, 5762 Israel Time: 17:54 (GMT+2) New infantry battalion set up to serve in territories By Amos Harel The IDF has started drafting troops for a new infantry battalion that will be posted in the territories. The decision is one of a series of measures adopted by land forces command and the General Staff's manpower division as part of efforts to prepare for a possible drawn-out conflict with the Palestinians in the territories. During this month's call-up, soldiers will be drafted into two companies of the battalion, which will probably be called Yishai. Two additional companies will be created at the March draft. The battalion will be in operation by around July 2002, once the first two companies have completed their training and will probably be posted in the Hebron area. An officer who has served in senior positions in the paratroopers brigade has been appointed commander. Four infantry battalions are currently posted in the West Bank and all carry out similar tasks: Duchifat in the Ramallah area, Haruv in the Nablus area, Nachshon around Qalqilyah and Shimshon, which usually sees action in the Bethlehem and Hebron areas. Infantry battalions which serve in the territories undergo different training and undertake different operations compared with ordinary infantry battalions: Those in the territories train just three months a year, with nine months of operations; others see four months of operations in friction points, such as the border with Lebanon or the Green Line, followed by four months of training. The intifada has closed the gap between the two types of battalions, because regular battalions are spending less training time. The major advantage of establishing a new conscript infantry battalion is that it "saves" having to call up 18 reserve battalions to serve in the territories every year. Also, the new battalion can concentrate on one, specific front, which means the IDF no longer has to train a new reserve battalion every three weeks to operate in that area. In addition to the infantry battalions at work in the territories, the IDF is now completing its transformation of the ultra-Orthodox Nahal battalion ("Netzach Yehuda"), whose last company is now being drafted, into an operational battalion for all purposes. The battalion is currently posted in the Jordan Valley, though it may end up serving in the territories. Another recent key decision made by the IDF is to post the Shimshon battalion permanently in the Gaza Strip as of next year. Shimshon, which was refounded five years ago, has been serving in the West Bank, even though it is part of the Gaza division. This, however, made supervision of its activities problematic, especially during training. The IDF is also considering creating an additional undercover unit, in addition to Duvdevan and those linked to the Border Police, which would serve in the Gaza Strip. Figures from this month's draft show there has been an increase in the motivation levels of conscripts, who are now more eager to serve in infantry units in the territories.