The IDF is training troops to fight against Arab Israeli citizens, if they rise up during wartime as they did in 2000. According to Maariv/NRG, the army is training infantry battalions to seize control of the strategic Wadi Ara (Nachal Eeron) road in wartime, should the need arise.
The battalions are currently employed in routine security in Judea and Samaria. However, should a northern war front develop, they will be attached to the Home Front Command and sent to Umm El Fahm to beat back any attempts by the Arabs there to block the road. They have been trained in urban warfare for this purpose and have been acquainted with the methods for carrying out this “sensitive” mission.
Highway 65 connects the coastal area near Caesarea with Megiddo and Emek Yizre’el (the Valley of Esdraelon) and is strategically vital for the IDF when it seeks to transport tanks and other vehicles between northern front and the other fronts. The section of Highway 65 that passes through Nachal Eeron, or Wadi Ara, is part of the Biblical “Sea Road” (Via Maris), which connected Egypt with Babylon and Assyria and was used by armies and traders since ancient times.
The road is a segment of Highway 65 that runs through a concentration of Arab towns, including the city of Umm El-Fahm, which is a hotbed of Islamic radicalism and support for terrorism. When the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat launched a terror war against Israeli citizens in 2000, thousands of Israeli Arab citizens streamed out of their homes and attacked Jewish motorists. One motorist, Bechor Jean, was killed by a rock thrown from a bridge, and others barely escaped lynch attempts.
Traffic blocked for a week
The most serious disruption occurred in Wadi Ara, where traffic on Highway 65 was completely blocked for an entire week. Arabs in Umm El Fahm burned down their own bank and post office, took down road signs and traffic lights and set alight cars.
The rioters were met by police who were greatly outnumbered and who killed 12 Arabs in an attempt to quell the insurrection. The Israeli Left and Arab Knesset Members claimed that the response was a crime against Israeli citizens, and they succeeded to create a commission of inquiry that blamed the police for the deaths and meted out punishment to the police officers involved. Since the commission’s report was filed, police officers have been less willing to confront Arab rioters aggressively.
Intelligence to the enemy
Another danger that the IDF is concerned about, besides an attempt to block the strategic highway, is the intelligence gathering capability of the locals. The army believes that Arab citizens may report to the enemy on the nature and numbers of forces passing through the road.
NRG reported that according to a Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) report published after the Second Lebanon War, the agency identified squads of Israeli Arabs who collected military intelligence for Hizbullah, including information on the location of IDF units, alerts regarding impending IDF strikes on Lebanon and the home front’s preparations for the rest of the war.
In response to the report of the IDF’s plans, Arab Knesset Member Afu Agbariah (Hadash), a resident of Umm El Fahm, accused the IDF of “inciting against the Arab population and the residents of Wadi Ara.” He added: “We hope that the IDF will not mercilessly slaughter the Arabs of Wadi Ara, who are citizens with full rights, as it did to the residents of Gaza.”