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Israel fears Arab citizens may join anti-occupation movement 

April 20, 2022 at 8:54 am

Arab Israeli youths wave a Palestinian flag during a protest on August 22, 2021 [AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images]

Israeli defence institutions are afraid that Palestinian citizens of Israel might take part in any confrontation with Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as happened in May last year, veteran Israeli military analyst Yoav Limor said yesterday.

Writing in Israel Hayom, Limor reported “warnings” of senior Israeli security officials that the Israeli army “response” to such a scenario “is absolutely not enough” although the Israeli army and police “have taken many measures.”

The popular uprising of Palestinian citizens of Israel during last year’s Israeli offensive on Gaza triggered, according to Limor, a “red light” for the Israeli security institution that the cities with many Arab citizens would rise up.

Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip keeps rising...- Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip keeps rising…- Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]

According to the security evaluations, the next confrontation “will witness wide-scale violence” that would be larger than what happened in May 2021.

Meanwhile, Limor expected that any war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah would witness thousands of rockets launched towards Israel every day.

This would cause chaos and many Arabs in Israel would seize the opportunity to destabilise the security and this would hinder the movement of the Israeli army forces across the country.

Limor said senior officials have warned that Israeli police would not be able to maintain the routine daily deterrence during such emergencies.

He warned that the most horrific scenario would be armed battles between Israel’s Arab and Jewish citizens.

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