Bennett said the plan has been drafted in cooperation with Israel's
military and government. In 2010, Israel held several major exercises that
tested the nation's response to massive missile and rocket salvos from the
Gaza Strip and Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported.
Under the plan, authorities would employ armored buses to bring Israelis
to Jewish communities in the West Bank. Officials said the plan was being
tested in several communities in the Samaria region.
Officials said the plan envisions several war scenarios. In one
scenario, 100,000 Israelis would arrive in the West Bank, which would be ready to
accommodate them in municipal buildings, schools and homes.
In the worst case, authorities envision 500,000 Israeli refugees
flooding the West Bank. Officials said such an influx would strain the
resources of the Jewish community.
"That's an extreme scenario," Bennett said.
Jewish community leaders said the West Bank would serve as a refuge for
hundreds of thousands of Israelis who intend to flee cities targeted by
Iran, Syria and their proxies in any future war. They said the prospect of
Israel's enemies firing missiles toward the West Bank, with a Palestinian
population of nearly two million, was slight.
"Judea and Samaria is an excellent place to absorb people," Avi Ro'eh,
head of the Binyamin Regional Council, said.
At a news conference on May 25, Ro'eh said the 310,000-member Jewish
community in the West Bank was capable of rapidly absorbing Israelis. He
said accommodations, ranging from modular housing to tents, could be quickly
erected, and residents would be ready to host Israeli refugees until the end
of the war.
"This is a population that gives," Ro'eh said. "So, it is clear to them
that this is something that has to happen."
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