In a briefing on April 28, Cohen, who commands a force of 27,000, said
authorities expected the Palestinian violence to intensify within days, Middle East Newsline reported. He
said police and security forces were intensifying deployment and
intelligence to respond to unrest.
"We are preparing for the whole of the month of May," Cohen said. "We
are conducting a repeat inspection of all of the headquarters. The scenario
includes large-scale disruptions of order."
Officials said Palestinian unrest was expected to escalate through an
expected United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood in September 2011.
They said Israel's military and security forces have agreed to increase
coordination to help quell riots and attacks.
"We need another 5,000 officers," Cohen, who leaves his post in May,
said. "We'd like to recruit 1,000 officers a year, and be able to meet the
challenges of maintaining public order and crime fighting."
Military sources said they shared the assessment of rising Palestinian
unrest. They said a leading question was whether the Fatah-Hamas agreement
would hamper Israel-PA security cooperation in the West Bank.
"Will a [PA] government with Hamas actually promote security cooperation
with Israel?" a military source asked.