The IDF is boosting deployments in Judea and Samaria and building its stores of non-lethal crowd control devices ahead of the Palestinian Authority's statehood bid at the United Nations in September, Bloomberg reports. In June the IDF conducted a one-day planning and training exercise to lay the groundwork for preparations for September, when the UN is expected to consider a resolution supporting PA statehood, according to a senior IDF officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. IDF positions will be strengthened and the military is boosting its stock of non-lethal crowd-control equipment, which includes at least two dozen trucks fitted with water cannons that spray a foul-smelling "skunk water" at protesters, the officer said. The IDF will also for the first time assign a soldier to each platoon dealing with any disturbances to videotape the action as it unfolds and send it to the spokesman's office for distribution. Senior PA officials have said they won't be swayed from petitioning the General Assembly for recognition in September, but a looming veto in the Security Council from the US, which opposes the move, promises failure. Advisers close to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas say he is standing on a diplomatic precipice he cannot back down from due to the weight of public pressure, but fears that a failed bid will backfire in an outpouring of 'frustration and violence' continue to mount leaving PA officials looking a potential disaster of their own making in the face. Israeli security assessments predict violent protests and violence after a failed bid in September, the officer said. He cited two rallies at the Syrian and Lebanese frontiers, on June 5 and May 15, in which at least 20 people were killed while trying to breach Israel's border. Arch-terrorist and mass-murderer Marwan Barghouti, a PA leader and 'folk-hero' imprisoned for life by Israel, has called for mass rallies in Judea, Samaria and Gaza to support the UN bid, the Al Quds newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing a letter written by Barghouti.
