Gabi Gal, human resources chief at the Israeli police said that 8000 Israelis requested to assists in settlement pullout during disengagement from the Gaza Strip, August 2005.
Gal said that the police is taking a measure called “neighborhood watch†which deals with settlers planned for evacuation.
The volunteers asked to assist the police in evacuating all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip, and four settlements in the West Bank scheduled for evacuation.
According to Israeli sources there are 120 recognized settlements in the West Bank, this number excludes random settlement outposts installed by extremist settlers in the Palestinian territories.ÂÂ
Also, Gal added that 383 Israeli have been added to routine police duties, 230 to border police forces, and that additional 170 soldiers will be called on July 17. The police is prepared for am immediate call for additional 100 policemen.
Gal added that the police is aware that some settlers could try to join the police force in order to foil the evacuation, and added that incoming officers must undergo careful background checkups before being accepted into the force.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army already began training for withdrawal, although so far only police officers were assigned to evacuate the settlements.
On the other hand, the army claims that Palestinian resistance might attack the settlements during evacuation.
Dan Halutz, Israeli army chief said that Israel would carry out attacks against resistance fighters in order to ensure that withdrawal will not be carried out under fire.
Halutz added that the police expects resistance from the settlers, adding that some of them might use force against the policemen.
“We will not put our officers in danger, we will not let them be exposed to physical assaults, we are preparing and training them but we hope our force and power will not be testedâ€Â, Halutz added.ÂÂ
