“Since these are two waves of preparations, we needed to mobilize this number of officers,” the source said. “This does not mean we are in a problematic situation, but we are on a high state of alert.”All leave for regular police officers has already been canceled for the month of September.The heightened alert will last until Saturday morning.Extra police will also be present around the security barrier, checkpoints leading to the West Bank, and mixed Arab- Jewish cities around Israel.Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Police Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino will hold an evaluation meeting on Friday morning, and then tour Jerusalem’s Old City and near its security barrier.This week, police held a major drill to test riot-response capabilities ahead of the planned Palestinian statehood recognition bid at the UN.The number of specially trained riot police has gone up by around 50 percent over the past couple of years, from 5,000 to 7,400, with an additional 1,500 officers on standby.The riot officers are assigned to 16 command-and-control centers across the country.Additionally, 200,000 liters of “Skunk” liquid, which produces a foul smell and has been proven as an effective, yet harmless, crowd dispersal means, are available.Police also have 16 Venom type long-range multiple gas canister launchers, and speaker systems that emit unbearable sounds.Israel was also bracing for the possibility of violence erupting from Gaza. Following Obama’s statements that clarified that the US would veto any Security Council decision, Hamas called for Friday to be a “Day of Rage,” even though it was critical of the PA’s turn to the UN in the first place.Despite the US opposition, Abbas was “determined” to submit the application to the UN on Friday, Erekat said.Until Obama delivered his speech at the UN on Wednesday, Abbas and his aides were still hoping that the US administration would change its position regarding the statehood bid.
PA: Obama will be responsible for failure of peace
Dozens of Palestinians protest in Ramallah, heeding officials' instructions to hold anti-Obama demonstrations in West Bank.
“Since these are two waves of preparations, we needed to mobilize this number of officers,” the source said. “This does not mean we are in a problematic situation, but we are on a high state of alert.”All leave for regular police officers has already been canceled for the month of September.The heightened alert will last until Saturday morning.Extra police will also be present around the security barrier, checkpoints leading to the West Bank, and mixed Arab- Jewish cities around Israel.Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch and Police Insp.-Gen. Yochanan Danino will hold an evaluation meeting on Friday morning, and then tour Jerusalem’s Old City and near its security barrier.This week, police held a major drill to test riot-response capabilities ahead of the planned Palestinian statehood recognition bid at the UN.The number of specially trained riot police has gone up by around 50 percent over the past couple of years, from 5,000 to 7,400, with an additional 1,500 officers on standby.The riot officers are assigned to 16 command-and-control centers across the country.Additionally, 200,000 liters of “Skunk” liquid, which produces a foul smell and has been proven as an effective, yet harmless, crowd dispersal means, are available.Police also have 16 Venom type long-range multiple gas canister launchers, and speaker systems that emit unbearable sounds.Israel was also bracing for the possibility of violence erupting from Gaza. Following Obama’s statements that clarified that the US would veto any Security Council decision, Hamas called for Friday to be a “Day of Rage,” even though it was critical of the PA’s turn to the UN in the first place.Despite the US opposition, Abbas was “determined” to submit the application to the UN on Friday, Erekat said.Until Obama delivered his speech at the UN on Wednesday, Abbas and his aides were still hoping that the US administration would change its position regarding the statehood bid.